Awen Collective & Arcanum Cyber Security Relaunch Cyber Wales Operational Technology Cluster

Awen Collective and Arcanum Cyber Security have joined forces to relaunch the Cyber Wales Operational Technology Cluster - cluster managers Jules (CTO at Awen Collective) and Marie (Sales & Marketing Manager at Arcanum) will be welcoming anyone with an interest in OT Cyber Security to join them on the 30th November at 2-4pm.

The aim of this Cluster is to provide a platform to share intelligence and explore ideas on the specific cyber security challenges being faced by organisations working in Operational Technology (OT), Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) and Industrial Control Systems (ICS).

For our first meeting, our two speakers, Kat Abercrombie (Senior Pen-Tester at Arcanum Cyber) and Jules Farrow (CTO at Awen Collective) will introduce topics on the difference between IT and OT and why each needs its own security focus, and why asset and vulnerability discovery is vital to producing an effective OT cyber security programme. We'd also love to hear from you - a brief introduction on who you are, your interest in OT cyber, and what future topics we can focus on within our OT cluster meetings.

If you work in, or have an interest in, cyber security in the industrial sectors then we'd love for you to join us.

This event will be hosted by the wonderfully accommodating University of South Wales National Cyber Security Academy at their Newport City Campus and simultaneously virtually via Zoom. If you can't join us in person, we'd still love for you to join via Zoom where you'll be just as much part of the action (although you will need to provide your own Welsh Cakes!).

Arcanum is a NCSC Certified Cyber Security Consultancy, supporting clients across multiple sectors, ranging from CNI, Manufacturing and Defence to SMEs. Marie Caruso, Sales & Marketing Manager at Arcanum is a manager of the OT Cluster at Cyber Wales.

Awen Collective makes society safer by reducing the impact of cyber attacks on the services we all rely upon on a daily basis through innovative software solutions tailored for OT organisations across CNI, Manufacturing, Defence and Smart Cities. Jules Farrow, CTO at Awen Collective is a manager of the OT Cluster at Cyber Wales.

Dot Demo Event - 15th October 2020 - Post-event write-up

On Thursday the 15th October 2020, Awen Collective officially launched Dot in the UK.

Dot is an asset and vulnerability discovery software system which reduces cyber risk and increases cyber resiliency of Operational Technologies (those technologies which control our energy, water, transportation and manufacturing systems). For more information about Dot please visit our page on Dot, and/or contact us today.

The event also marked the end of a 12 month project (called Project DOMINO) with the UK Ministry of Defence, which saw the Dot product accelerated into use cases for the defence and security sectors. Dot is a commercial product developed by Awen Collective, a Welsh Cyber Security Software company. For more information about how our work applies to the defence sector please visit our page on the defence sector, and/or contact us today.

Project DOMINO was funded by the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) of MOD DSTL. Awen Collective was the lead partner on the project, with BAR Associates assisting. We released a press release about Project DOMINO at the end of 2019.

The demonstration event was hosted by Awen Collective, in collaboration with BAR Associates, Thales Cyber & Consulting and the National Digital Exploitation Centre (NDEC).

We had over 70 attendees from a range of organisations: the UK Ministry of Defence, other parts of UK Government, a few British industrial sector regulators, energy companies, water companies, defence sector companies, water sector companies, and other Friends of Awen.

Event write-up: Black Hat Europe 2019

In early December, the Awen Collective team descended on Black Hat Europe 2019 at ExCeL London!

Our CEO and CTO, Daniel and Jules, and our developers Jamie, Seren and Lara were on hand at the Tech Nation Cyber Pavilion to distribute both knowledge about the excellent cyber security software solutions we provide to operators of industrial control systems, and also high quality welsh cakes to match!

Alongside us were both representatives from Tech Nation Cyber, and fellow Cyber 1.0 alumni companies, Skurio and Keepnet Labs.

We had some great conversations with operators of vital industrial control systems who were interested in our software, with investors interested in the growing demand for industrial cyber solutions, and with fellow cyber security professionals, interested in sharing knowledge on cutting edge solutions. Oh, and some lovely people who just really liked Welsh cakes!

We also took the opportunity to see what other great cyber solutions were being exhibited at Black Hat, and attend some very interesting briefings. A highlight was a presentation on exploiting vulnerabilities in a Siemens S7 PLC, one of the most common devices used within industrial control environments.

We’d like to thank Tech Nation for inviting us to exhibit on their stand, and to the organisers of Black Hat Europe for putting on such a great event.

Event write-up: Slush 2019

As a joint endeavor with our friends at Tech Nation, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and the Department for International Trade, Awen Collective’s CTO, Jules, attended Slush 2019 in Helsinki.

Awen Collective was invited alongside other Tech Nation alumni companies, including People Matter, Good-Loop, Wordnerds, Dream Agility, Hark, Heliocor, WorkInConfidence, See.Sense & Sano Genetics.

We began with a warm welcome at the British Embassy in Helsinki, offering an excellent opportunity to network with the other cohort companies, plus the Tech Nation, DCMS, DIT and British Embassy teams. The British Government is particularly adept at assisting UK companies with making relevant and helpful contacts within foreign countries to make conducting business there easier, and Finland is no exception.

On arrival at the venue for Slush 2019, the scale is hard to appreciate. With headline numbers including 25,000 attendees, 3500 startups, 2000 investors, 4 main stages and countless exhibitors and side-events, it’s a lot to take in. The entire event is conducted in near darkness, giving the feel more of a top-end nightclub than a conference - although you’re not missing a huge amount of daylight outside in Helsinki in November either!

Add to this the amazing lighting throughout, plus pumping music throughout the venue, and it all can get quite overwhelming! Thankfully the Secret Garden was a welcome tranquil chill-out space, including interior waterfalls!

There we’re brilliant opportunities to meet with like-minded entrepreneurial spirits at every turn, and a combination of headline speakers you’d struggle to find anywhere else on earth. Thankfully, you too can experience many of these though the magic of the internet - relive Slush 2019 here!

We’d like to thank Tech Nation, DCMS, DIT, the team at the British Embassy in Helsinki, the organisers of Slush 2019, the fantastic cohort of companies who joined us, and of course, the wonderful city of Helsinki, for a fantastic few days in Finland which we’ll never forget!

If you’re considering attending or exhibiting at Slush in the future, we can 100% suggest you do!