Former Bank of England cyber specialists to lead NCC Group’s CENTA

Here’s what you need to know 

Former head of sector for the Bank of England’s cyber functions, Phillip Larbey, and colleagues Anthony Long and Fiona Paterson have announced that they will join NCC Group to head up the company’s new Centre for Evolved Next-generation Threat Assurance (CENTA).

With over 35 years’ experience in the financial sector and an impressive background in cyber security, Phillip has been appointed as managing principal of CENTA. He will have overall responsibility for the new advisory practice, consulting governments, regulators and other regulated institutions on cyber best practice and strategic cyber risk management to ensure they comply with regulatory frameworks.

Phillip brings with him a wealth of knowledge, having held senior executive management roles with the likes of the American International Group and Zurich Global Corporate over the last 20 years. He was also a member of the Bank of England’s Cross Market Operational Resilience Cyber Group, as well as the European Central Bank’s Cyber Resilience Strategy Task Force and a stakeholder executive member of the industry body – CREST.  

Anthony Long and Fiona Paterson will both take on the role of executive principal of CENTA. In his previous position as part of the Bank of England’s sector cyber team, Anthony provided specialist cyber support to a range of regulatory authorities and was the lead for the design, delivery and continued development of the CBEST testing programme across retail, international banks and the insurance market. Fiona has been leading on cyber resilience policy at the Bank of England for the last two years and brings with her an extensive knowledge of the threat landscape and cyber capabilities, specifically in relation to government agencies, as well as experience in working closely with government departments and agencies.

NCC Group’s CENTA will offer a global platform for this newly formed and world-leading team to collaborate with foreign central banks, regulators and institutions in all sectors across the world to support them with the understanding and efficient rollout of compliance measures as part of a broader international strategy to improve cyber resilience across the board.

CENTA will provide a global advisory service, assisting the relevant institutions with the preparation, design, implementation and support with regards to cyber resilience and evolved security testing regulatory regimes. It will also offer staff training, testing project management, analysis of root-causes and assistance with correction and remediation, as well as providing ongoing, regulator-standard reviews to ensure the consistent quality of implemented frameworks. 

Phillip Larbey, associate director of NCC Group and managing principal of CENTA, said: “If countries across the world are to achieve a consistent unified approach with regards to cyber resilience and the implementation of best practice, it’s important to start taking the relevant steps at ground-level in order to prime us for the future. In our new roles at CENTA, and by using NCC Group’s specialist capabilities, we aim to tackle this issue.

“We will be working in alignment with the geo-political forums to advise on and support government departments, central banks, regulators and other institutions in upholding the highest of standards when it comes to cyber risk management and the continued compliance with regulatory frameworks.”