Adarma - Experts & Thought Leaders

Independent cyber security business, Adarma has announced the appointment of Cheryl Martin as the new Head of its Security Consulting practice. The UK-based organisation has offices in both, London and Edinburgh, and is one of the largest independent security services companies in the United Kingdom. Security consulting services expert Adarma works to safeguard businesses from ever-evolving cyber threats, through a range of security consulting & managed security services, with deep domain expertise in threat management and managed detection and response solutions. This is the latest in a series of senior appointments at Adarma, following the announcement of ex-Cisco Global Vice President, John Maynard’s appointment as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in November 2020. IT, technology and cyber security veteran Cheryl joins the firm from Gartner Consulting, where as Senior Managing Director, she led the firm’s financial services arm. She has more than 25 years’ experience in IT, technology and cyber security, privacy and operational resilience. Prior to her role at Gartner, Cheryl was an Equity Partner in EY’s EMEA Financial Services Technology Advisory team, leading on the development of numerous technology, risk and cyber security strategies. Efficient tactician in cyber security space Cheryl will also be responsible for driving Adarma’s equality, diversity and inclusion ambitions She has also implemented complex transformation programmes in large scale risk and compliance for global institutions, and has helped a number of UK FTSE organisations respond to cyber incidents. Alongside her role as Head of Security Consulting, Cheryl will also be responsible for driving Adarma’s equality, diversity and inclusion ambitions, having previously been the diversity lead on the Gartner Global Board of Directors, as well as Co-chair for EY’s Women in Technology Community. Cheryl Martin, Head of Security Consulting at Adarma, said “This role really plays to my core strength of cyber security and I hope that the knowledge and experiences I’ve gained in my previous positions will aid Adarma as it continues to expand its offerings.” Bespoke advisory services Cherly adds “The business prides itself on the strength of its relationships with clients, and the bespoke advisory services it can provide as a result. I look forward to working in partnership with Adarma’s impressive client roster as we help them navigate the changing threat landscape.” John Maynard, the Chief Executive Officer at Adarma, said “Cheryl represents an extremely valuable addition to the Adarma team as we look to scale our business while retaining the outstanding levels of customer service we are renowned for. Her outstanding knowledge of the financial services space and the complex regulatory landscape will also enable her to create more bespoke and multi-faceted solutions to benefit both our existing and prospective clients across a broad range of industries.”

Adarma, an independent security services company, previously ECS Security, has successfully launched following a private management buyout led by David Calder and Nathan Dornbrook with capital from Livingbridge, one of the UK’s leading mid-market private equity investors, and debt from Bank of Scotland. With over 250 staff and experience spanning over two decades, Adarma provides a broad range of IT security consulting, solution and services with deep expertise in threat management including Security Operations Centre (SOC) design, build and operation. Adarma helps large enterprises to establish operational security capabilities including in-house, co-managed and fully managed SOC environments. Helping clients to extend SOC capabilities The company’s expertise helps clients to extend existing SOC capabilities to respond to evolving threatsThe company’s expertise also helps clients to extend existing SOC capabilities to respond to evolving threats and establish a high-value proactive approach to hunting and effectively defending against attackers through addressing control gaps. From launch, Adarma has an extensive client roster that includes market leading brands from FTSE 250 organisations. In fact, Adarma’s 20 largest clients have a combined annual turnover in excess of £150bn and rely on Adarma’s expertise to help protect sensitive data covering over half of the UK population. Preparing for critical security incidents David Calder, MD and co-founder of Adarma says, “Our decision to create Adarma is part of our desire to focus exclusively on the security space with the aim of becoming the UK market leader for FTSE 250 organisations across a broad range of industries. We are thrilled to receive backing from Livingbridge as we start this new chapter in our journey.” Security is a priority at board level as well as within Security Operations departments at these organisations" “Typically, our customer base consists of larger organisations who accept that attacks and breaches are inevitable. Security is a priority at board level as well as within Security Operations departments at these organisations. They realise that it is not a case of if, but when they will face critical security incidents and want to be prepared for this. Our tailored solutions and in-depth engagements with our customers ensure a deeper understanding of their business and requirements, enabling us to deliver improved results for each client.” Adarma is based on the Latin phrase 'call to arms’ to represent the security it offers to clients and its core founding objective – to make the world a safer place. Closing the security skills gap Nathan Dornbrook, CTO and co-founder of Adarma said: “Another core principle of the Adarma ethos is a focus on skills and experience that is complemented by, but not replaced by, technology. Our clients tend to have complex environments, with technical and cultural requirements that define them in often unique ways. “Our teams are made up of skilled and highly certified practitioners that have deep, real world expertise in working with large organisations. Many of our staff and clients have been with us for a decade or more and we see this partnership journey as key to building a sustainable and trusted business as well as assisting in fulfilling our objective to help close the security skills gap in the UK.” Adarma runs its own dedicated UK based 24/7 SOC which is staffed by practitioners with deep relevant skills Adarma runs its own dedicated UK based 24/7 SOC which is staffed by practitioners with deep relevant skills. All teams hold qualifications to degree level in cyber security related subjects and technology specific accreditations plus extensive rapid response capabilities. Core Adarma technology partners include Splunk, ServiceNow and Tenable. Provider of cyber security services Paul Thomson, Group Chief Executive at ECS, said: “Over the last 6 years, ECS’s security business has grown rapidly within the Group into a truly industry leading provider of cyber security services. Strategically it makes sense for ECS Group and Security to separate, allowing both companies to further focus on their core areas of expertise. “For Group, this also enables us to expand our core offerings and expertise in digital transformation in our key markets namely, enterprise IT infrastructure and public cloud, as well as investing heavily to build out other areas of the business. We wish David, Nathan, the management team and the staff at Adarma all the very best and anticipate working in close partnership with them moving forwards.” Commenting on the investment, Matthew Caffrey, Partner at Livingbridge said: “Adarma is a very exciting business for us to partner with. We believe there is an opportunity to partner with the team to build a business of real scale in the growing cyber security market. The team have built up a great business and we’re excited to work with them as they grow.”