• NextDefense is an innovative portfolio of Managed Security Services (MSS) that Telefónica Tech offers from its global network of Security Operations Centres (SOCs) to combat emerging cyber security threats and guide customers towards a secure digital future.
• NextDefense transforms security operations through Big Data and Artificial Intelligence techniques, and through Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR).

London, 11 March 2024. Telefónica Tech UK&I today announces the launch of the innovative cyber security services brand ‘NextDefense’ to guide its customers towards a secure digital future. ‘NextDefense’ focuses on the next generation of Managed Security Services (MSS), which Telefónica Tech delivers from its global network of Security Operations Centres (SOCs), and incorporates advanced capabilities aligned with the changing threat landscape, emerging technologies, and the need for proactive security.

Telefónica Tech now offers its ‘NextDefense’ service in the UK and Ireland with proprietary threat intelligence, cutting-edge technology and automation-driven standardised procedures, thanks to its scale and global cyber expertise. Globally, Telefónica Tech has 6,300 professionals and more than 4,000 certifications in third-party technologies, all supported by its global network of SOCs spanning the UK, Europe and the Americas. This includes a SOC in Belfast, providing essential on shore capability for Telefónica Tech UK&I through a security cleared facility that is empowered by global enrichment.

Telefónica Tech UK&I’s new cyber security services provide continuous monitoring, rapid threat detection and effective incident response to help enterprises establish an effective, end-to-end security strategy to safeguard their critical assets, including data, cloud environments, endpoints and network infrastructure.

The NextDefense suite, which is deeply aligned with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) framework aimed at mitigating the cyber security risk of organisations, encompasses a robust array of Offensive Security solutions, such as:

• Technical Assurance: ensures that a product, process, or system functions as intended, whilst maintaining robust security throughout.
• Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI): transforms information into actionable intelligence to understand how, where, why and which cyber criminals operate.
• Penetration Testing: development of controlled tests to identify and exploit vulnerabilities and security gaps.
• Red Teaming: a team of professionals assesses organisational resilience against real cyber-attacks, by simulating controlled attacks on the client’s systems, in order to train their defences and identify vulnerabilities.
• Vulnerability Management: automatically scans an organisation’s critical assets to detect potential threats, assess their level of exposure, and prioritise urgent remediation, in order to proactively identify and mitigate potential vulnerabilities.

In parallel, NextDefense’s Secure-by-Design/Default services ensure that security is an integral foundation of the developmental lifecycle, thereby engraining inherent resilience into business operations at the elemental level. These services include:

• Threat Modelling: a proactive strategy for evaluating cyber security threats, identifying potential risks, and developing effective defences.
• Risk Advisory services: provide expert guidance to organisations in managing and mitigating risks effectively.
• Secure Design Lifecycle Principles: guide the development of secure and resilient systems by emphasizing least privilege, defence-in-depth, zero trust, and transparent security decisions.

NextDefense also incorporates the following Defensive Security solutions:

• State-of-the-art Security Information and Event Management (SIEM): advanced and efficient monitoring of the customer’s IT environment for an intelligent, aggregated view of threats and regulatory compliance.
• Managed Detection and Response (MDR): comprehensive endpoint security monitoring through detection, containment and rapid response to security breaches by proactive threat scanning and expert assistance.
• Extended Detection and Response (XDR): integrate and correlate multiple data sources to provide enhanced threat detection and response.
• Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) capabilities: provide rapid assistance in the event of an incident or cyber-crisis, and facilitate the rapid recovery of the most valuable business processes and digital assets to help mitigate damage.

NextDefense leverages advanced data sources and Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (Machine Learning) techniques to predict and protect against emerging threats, making it a crucial component in today’s cyber security landscape. With this new service, Telefónica Tech UK&I transforms security operations through Data and AI, and through the comprehensive use of Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) to automate cyber-attack prevention and response, strengthen security measures, improve the overall security posture, protect customers from cyber threats, and extract valuable information from the best available cyber intelligence.

Ed Tucker, Cyber Security CTO at Telefónica Tech UK&I, says: “NextDefense is our vision for the future of cyber security, providing a next-generation integrated portfolio of services to protect and manage risk in a modern, rapidly evolving threat landscape. NextDefense brings the global scale and intelligence of Telefónica Tech’s cyber operations to the UK&I market, offering organisations global reach with a local touch. We are one of the few UK MSPs that can offer a suite of cyber security services drawing upon the expertise of thousands of global experts, whilst also tailoring this to local needs. We are embarking on a new horizon of cyber security services that are secure by design and by default, charting a course towards a future where organisational resilience is built into the very fabric of our offerings”.

Telefónica Tech UK&I has strong capabilities and depth across various industry sectors, including Healthcare, Government, Public Sector, Retail, Manufacturing, Financial Services and Insurance, Construction and Professional Services. With the launch of NextDefense to boost its Cyber Security offering, and the combination of its other core offerings across Data & AI, Business Applications, Modern Workplace and Cloud, Telefónica Tech UK&I will continue helping organisations across these sectors to significantly reduce the risk of a cyber-attack, control the cost of their security operations and technologies, and increase the maturity of their cyber security defences.