UK Councils Improve Security and Citizen Privacy With Splunk

LONDON and SAN FRANCISCO – April 9, 2019 –Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK), delivering actions and outcomes from the world of data, today announced that the Orbis Partnership is using its Splunk® Enterprise and Splunk Enterprise Security (ES) products to protect itself from cyber attacks. Orbis, a partnership which brings together three local councils in Southeast England, spans across 550 sites and delivers services including finance, procurement and human resources to over 20,000 users.

Orbis standardized on Splunk ES to identify security incidents early, reducing costs and limiting potential damage. For example, when the WannaCry attack occurred, the councils quickly detected infected devices and removed them from the network to prevent it spreading further. Splunk ES provides Orbis with a flexible, centralized view of its security, compliance and IT operational needs, while at the same time granting each council ownership and control over its own data. The new security information and event management (SIEM) solution across Surrey County, East Sussex County and Brighton & Hove City Councils replaces a variety of previously used SIEM solutions. To learn more about how Orbis uses Splunk Enterprise and Splunk ES to bolster security and information governance, read the full case study.

“The Splunk platform fundamentally underpins Orbis’ compliance strategy. By automating the collection, search, alerts and reporting of logs and machine data, it’s become easier than ever to build a full audit trail,” said Morgan Rees, Technical Delivery Manager at Orbis. “Splunk Enterprise Security provides us with both confidence and flexibility when handling the general public’s personal data or interacting with other government bodies such as the Public Services Network and National Health Service.”

Beyond security, Orbis is using Splunk Enterprise to quickly identify and resolve IT faults, as well as minimize downtime and disruption of important government services such as social care, waste and road management. The Splunk platform has also helped drive deeper collaboration within the Orbis partnership, sharing machine data and associated insights with multiple departments to speed up escalations and address the root cause.

“With public sector finances coming under increasing pressure, government organizations demand cost effective solutions that benefit their constituents,” said Richard Timperlake, vice president of EMEA sales, Splunk. “The Orbis Partnership is a great example of how a single software platform can have widespread benefits across different parts of an organization. Not only are the councils now better protected, they have also reduced costs through tool consolidation.”

For more information on Splunk Enterprise and Splunk Enterprise Security, visit the Splunk website.

About Orbis

Orbis is a Public Sector Partnership, consisting of approximately 2,000 staff that was formally created between East Sussex County Council and Surrey County Council in April 2015 with Brighton & Hove City Council joining as the final founding partner in May 2017. The purpose is to deliver greater value to the partner councils, residents and customers by generating efficiencies and exploiting the benefits of sharing people, resources and technology.