UKHSA (UK Health Security Agency)

Service Provided:

• Leading and Defining Compliance Framework

Case Study: Purple Hat Security’s Support for UKHSA in Developing a Comprehensive Compliance Framework

Background

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) plays a critical role in protecting the public from health threats and managing health security across the nation. To effectively safeguard sensitive health data and ensure the integrity of its operations, UKHSA needed a robust and unified control framework that aligns with key standards and best practices, including the National Cyber Security Centre’s Cyber Assessment Framework (NCSC CAF), Secure by Design principles, and Government Functional Standards.

Given the complexity and diversity of its operations across multiple directorates, UKHSA required a tailored approach to develop a control framework that would provide comprehensive coverage of its security and compliance needs. Purple Hat Security was engaged to lead this effort, leveraging its expertise in cybersecurity and compliance frameworks.

Challenges

1. Complex Operational Environment: UKHSA’s diverse operational environment, encompassing various directorates with distinct functions, necessitated a control framework that could be adapted to different contexts while maintaining a unified approach to security and compliance.
2. Alignment with Multiple Standards: The control framework needed to align with multiple standards and guidelines, including NCSC CAF, Secure by Design principles, Government Functional Standards, and other relevant government policies, to ensure comprehensive coverage of all compliance requirements.
3. Ensuring Traceability and Accountability: To meet regulatory and operational demands, UKHSA required a control framework that ensured complete traceability of controls to compliance requirements, enabling accountability and facilitating audits and reviews.
4. Collaboration Across Directorates: Developing an effective control framework required extensive collaboration with various directorates within UKHSA to understand their unique requirements and ensure the framework addressed all relevant risks and needs.

Purple Hat Security's Involvement

Purple Hat Security was tasked with developing a comprehensive control framework tailored to UKHSA’s needs, providing a unified approach to security and compliance. This involved understanding the operational environment, developing a controls catalogue, mapping it to relevant standards, and ensuring it could be used across the organization to meet compliance requirements.

Key Roles and Responsibilities:

• Environmental Assessment: Purple Hat Security conducted an in-depth assessment of UKHSA’s operational environment by collaborating with multiple directorates to understand their unique functions, risks, and security needs.
• Development of Controls Catalogue: Our team developed a comprehensive controls catalogue, incorporating best practices and controls from NCSC CAF, Secure by Design principles, Government Functional Standards, and other government policies.
• Mapping to Standards and Policies: We meticulously mapped each control in the catalogue to the relevant standards and policies to ensure complete coverage and traceability of UKHSA’s compliance requirements.
• Implementation and Dissemination: Once the controls catalogue was finalized and approved, Purple Hat Security facilitated its implementation and dissemination across internal teams to establish a single, unified framework for security and compliance.

Approach

1. Collaborative Environmental Assessment: Purple Hat Security initiated the project by collaborating with various UKHSA directorates to gain a comprehensive understanding of their operational environments. This included conducting workshops, interviews, and assessments to identify specific security needs, risks, and compliance requirements across different functions.
2. Development of a Comprehensive Controls Catalogue: Based on the insights gathered, our team developed a detailed controls catalogue that covered all aspects of UKHSA’s operations. This catalogue included technical, administrative, and physical controls designed to mitigate identified risks and ensure compliance with applicable standards.
3. Mapping Controls to Multiple Standards: To ensure the framework’s comprehensiveness and applicability, each control in the catalogue was carefully mapped to multiple standards and guidelines, including:
   • NCSC Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF): Ensuring alignment with national cybersecurity standards for critical infrastructure.
   • Secure by Design Principles: Incorporating secure design principles to ensure robust security from the outset of system and application development.
   • Government Functional Standards: Aligning with broader government policies and standards to ensure consistency and compliance across all functions.
4. Ensuring Traceability and Compliance: The framework was designed with traceability in mind, allowing UKHSA to easily track each control to its corresponding compliance requirement. This ensured that all controls were aligned with regulatory and operational standards, facilitating audits and reviews.
5. Approval and Dissemination: Once the controls catalogue was finalized and reviewed by stakeholders, it was approved by UKHSA leadership. Purple Hat Security then facilitated its dissemination across internal teams, providing training and guidance on how to apply the framework to ensure consistent implementation across the organization.
6. Ongoing Support and Refinement: Purple Hat Security continued to support UKHSA in the implementation of the control framework, providing ongoing guidance and refinement as needed to address evolving risks and compliance requirements.

Outcomes

1. Unified Security and Compliance Framework: Purple Hat Security successfully developed a unified control framework for UKHSA, providing a comprehensive approach to security and compliance that aligned with multiple standards and guidelines.
2. Improved Traceability and Accountability: The framework ensured complete traceability of controls to compliance requirements, enhancing UKHSA’s ability to demonstrate compliance and accountability in audits and reviews.
3. Enhanced Security Posture: By implementing a comprehensive controls catalogue tailored to its specific needs, UKHSA significantly enhanced its security posture, reducing risks and improving resilience against potential threats.
4. Streamlined Compliance Management: The unified framework simplified compliance management for UKHSA, providing a single source of truth for security and compliance requirements across the organization.
5. Increased Collaboration and Alignment: The collaborative approach taken by Purple Hat Security fostered greater alignment and cooperation across UKHSA’s various directorates, ensuring that all teams were on the same page regarding security and compliance.
6. Ongoing Adaptability: The control framework was designed to be adaptable, allowing UKHSA to adjust and refine controls as needed to address evolving risks and regulatory changes.