Smartdesc & Acumen Forge Strategic SOC Partnership to Redefine Cyber Resilience

In an era of relentless cyber evolution, proactive and precision-driven security is no longer optional for Businesses, Higher and Further Education — it’s essential. We’re thrilled to announce a dynamic new partnership with Acumen Cyber, the UK-based cybersecurity leader known for its 24/7 engineer-powered Security Operations Centre (SOC).

What Sets Acumen Cyber’s SOC Apart?

• Fixed Pricing for the duration of the contract – no shocks!
• Engineer-Led, End-to-End Management: Acumen Cyber breaks the mould of traditional tiered SOCs. Their engineers open incidents, fully investigate them and close them—no handoffs, no siloes—ensuring speed, ownership and resolution.
• Constant In-Person Collaboration: Every engineer operates from Acumen Cyber’s UK-based SOC, fostering real-time teamwork, knowledge-sharing and rapid responses.
• Automation & Precision: From alert enrichment to automated containment steps, automation powers efficiency, accuracy and consistency across the incident lifecycle.
• Accredited Excellence: Acumen is CREST-accredited, a testament to its high standards in threat detection, analysis and response.
• Comprehensive MXDR & Advisory Services: Their SOC supports Managed Extended Detection & Response (MXDR) across endpoints, SaaS, cloud and infrastructure, alongside CTI, incident response and security posture advisory services.

What This Means for Smartdesc and Our Customers

By integrating Acumen’s contemporary, automation-centric SOC, we elevate our security offerings to a new dimension, providing unparalleled visibility, expedited remediation and perpetual expert monitoring. Collaboratively, we not only safeguard against contemporary threats but also fortify you for the challenges of the future.

Now delivering Higher and Further Education with sector-specific cyber defences

The recent launch of SecurEd from Acumen Cyber, Higher and Further Education can now benefit from a purpose-built managed SOC service, created by Acumen Cyber, in collaboration with HEFESTIS. Unlike traditional SOCs that are priced onlog ingestion, per-user fees or data volume, SecurEd provides per-staff/faculty pricing with free student accounts included. This means costs remain completely transparent, allowing institutions to budget with confidence, while knowing security coverage is never compromised, regardless of data volume.

Quote from Adam Monks, Managing Director, Smartdesc.

“This partnership with Acumen Cyber aligns seamlessly with our cyber portfolio, extending our capabilities through engineer-driven innovation, unwavering accountability and relentless commitment to customer security. By harnessing Acumen Cyber’s modern SOC capabilities, we enhance our service to be not just reactive—but anticipatory, resilient and integral to our broader cyber strategy”.

“Partnering Academia strengthens our mission to redefine security operations” comments Mark Robertson, CEO at Acumen Cyber. “Our engineer-powered, CREST-accredited SOC provides precise, automated and human-led protection and we are delighted to extend this protection more broadly with Academia”.  He concludes “This partnership represents a reimagined approach to security and we are eager to bring this vision to Academia’s customers”.

Find out more

To learn more about Acumen Cyber and how it can transform your cyber protection for Business – click here, for Further and Higher Education, please get in touch here.