Back in December, we were proud to share that our work with Tendring District Council (TDC) had earned Cyber Security Project of the Year. Today, we want to take a closer look at the project itself; how we transformed the council’s cyber defences and delivered a more intelligent, proactive approach to protecting public services and sensitive resident data.
The Challenge
Public sector organisations like TDC face a complex and evolving set of cyber threats. Handling sensitive resident data and ensuring essential services remain uninterrupted is a critical responsibility. TDC needed more than traditional defences, they needed a solution that could predict, detect, and respond to threats with speed and precision.
A Unified, Intelligent Security Approach
The cornerstone of our project was the deployment of a modern Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system. This system streamed data from every part of TDC’s digital infrastructure, networks, firewalls, servers, endpoints, and applications, creating a single, connected source of truth.
To turn data into actionable intelligence, we layered AI and machine learning on top of the SIEM. These technologies automatically correlated disparate logs, detecting patterns and potential threats that would be impossible for humans to spot quickly.
From Alerts to Actionable Intelligence
Before the project, TDC’s IT team faced thousands of alerts, many of them false positives. With AI-driven correlation, they now receive high-fidelity, actionable incidents, enabling a fast, three-stage response:
- Containment – Quickly isolate compromised systems or accounts to prevent lateral movement.
- Remediation – Accurately identify affected systems and take precise action to neutralise threats.
- Enhancement – Feed each incident back into the system to continuously improve detection and prevention.
This approach transformed TDC’s cyber security from reactive to proactive and predictive, ensuring threats are addressed before they can impact services or residents.
Beyond Technology: Strategic Impact
This project wasn’t just a technical upgrade, it was a strategic enhancement to TDC’s managed security service. By integrating an AI-powered SIEM, Intergence enabled the council to focus on delivering public services, confident that their cyber security is intelligent, adaptive, and future-proof.