McGrathNicol and ResponSight launch cyber-warning solution

Professional services firm McGrathNicol has teamed up with technology startup ResponSight to launch FDetect, a solution that facilitates cyber-warning processes and forensic investigations.

The new solution helps businesses improve the way they identify cybersecurity breaches, allowing them to take a more proactive approach to security. Research has shown that the earlier a breach is detected, the easier and cheaper it is to mitigate or fix. 

According to one such study, from the Ponemon Institute, it takes an average of 9 months to identify and contain a cyber breach in Australia. With FDetect in place, McGrathNicol and ResponSight believe that number can be reduced significantly. 

FDetect is a managed service providing early warning and risk insights based on human behaviours and the use of technology. It helps assess human risks by keeping track of risks such as not logging out of systems or copying data out of systems, and using an artificial intelligence engine that translates behavioural analytics into risks, event-response scenarios are rapidly populated.

The system also has a so-called evidence preservation function, which means that evidence is collected in real-time, thus that no evidence is lost, enabling a smoother forensic investigation process.

Darren Hopkins, Partner at McGrathNicol Advisory said: “FDetect provides Australian businesses with a combination of technology-enabled behavioral analytics and the backing of human forensic experts with decades of experience investigating intellectual property theft, white collar crime and cybercrime.” 

According to AustCyber, which provided a $250,000 grant from its AustCyber Projects Fund to develop the service, the solution marks a step forward in “supporting cyber resiliency across the Australian economy”. 

Cyber-attacks come with a hefty price tag. A report by BDO and the Australian Cyber Emergency Response Team (AusCERT) found that the number of incidents continues to rise, while the average cost of an incident at mid-sized and lager organisations has grown to $3 million. 

“Better management of risk is a significant economic opportunity for Australia,” said Michelle Price, CEO of AustCyber. The FDetect solution is supported by an expert team of experienced investigators and analysts, and is currently being trialed by a few large enterprises.

Meanwhile, McGrathNicol and ResponSight are behind the scenes working on their next innovation: a system for forensic data collection, investigations and early warning risk analytics based on behavioural activity profiling over the next 12 months.