BDO, Wavenet partner on cybersecurity assurance and certification

BDO and Wavenet have agreed on a strategic partnership focused on cybersecurity assurance, compliance and certification.

The tie-up brings together Wavenet’s cybersecurity, readiness and technical remediation services with BDO’s audit, assurance and certification work.

The companies aim to give organisations a single framework covering the full security and compliance process.

The partnership will first concentrate on SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certification pathways.

It also intends to expand into a wider set of assurance, risk and regulatory requirements over time.

The announcement comes as businesses face increasing regulatory demands, tighter supply chain scrutiny and growing customer expectations around assurance.

Against that backdrop, many organisations are working with multiple advisory practices, security providers and auditors, creating a fragmented process.

The partnership is designed to simplify that model by aligning the different stages within one shared programme framework.

According to BDO, this should help reduce delivery risk, cut internal overheads and speed up the path to assurance.

Under the arrangement, Wavenet will lead security and compliance readiness work in line with BDO’s assurance framework and approach.

That work will include cyber maturity and gap assessments, technical remediation, control implementation and managed security services such as SOC and MDR, as well as evidence management and audit preparation.

BDO will then provide audit, assurance and certification services across the relevant frameworks.

Wavenet chief information security officer Paul Colwell said: “Organisations are under increasing pressure to demonstrate verified security and compliance across multiple frameworks, not just one.

“This partnership enables us to provide a structured, scalable approach that supports customers throughout their entire assurance journey – from operational security through to independent certification and beyond.”

Last month, BDO UK partnered with MindBridge to broaden the use of AI and data analytics across its audit operations.