9 November 2021 – London, UK – Crossword Cybersecurity Plc (AIM:CCS, "Crossword", the "Company" or the "Group"), the technology commercialisation company focused on cyber security and risk management, is pleased to announce that it has partnered with Dark Beam Ltd ("Darkbeam"), to integrate Darkbeam's cyber risk audits into its online supplier assurance and third-party risk management platform, Rizikon.

Darkbeam's instant digital risk audits will give Rizikon customers a real-time cyber risk rating as part of the overall third-party assurance assessment on the platform. This additional functionality will help organisations to further minimise the threat of their digital ecosystem being exploited via their supply chain and supplier relationships. Rizikon users will be able to see the headline cyber risk rating on each supplier's scorecard, with the option of a more detailed cyber risk rating scan as either a one-time purchase or as part of their Rizikon subscription.

Rizikon Assurance improves the scalability, security and auditability of third-party assurance and due diligence through its automated, centralised and encrypted platform. It puts an organisation in control of managing risks in its supply chain and the financial, regulatory, and reputational risks they indirectly carry. Rizikon contains standard questionnaires on subjects such as cyber security, GDPR, supplier on-boarding, modern slavery, and anti-bribery & corruption. Customers can also create their own question sets and scoring approaches, enabling a 360-degree view of supply chain risk and third-party risk in a single pane of glass.

Charles Clark, CEO, at Darkbeam said: "Darkbeam is pleased to partner with Crossword and to offer our cyber security risk audit to Rizikon users. Darkbeam works with clients to augment their approach to cyber security risk, and with the increase in the attack surface, the threat has never been greater."

Sean Arrowsmith, Group Sales Director at Crossword Cybersecurity PLC, said: "We are very pleased to partner with Darkbeam and help Rizikon customers further understand and manage the cyber risks that may exist in their supply chains. All too often these risks are unknown and only exposed when a cyber event occurs. By integrating their cyber risk rating into Rizikon, our users will have access to a more comprehensive overview of their overall cyber risk, in real time, while assessing their supply chain risk at scale, in a cost-effective way."

Contacts

Crossword Cybersecurity plc – Tel: +44 (0) 20 3953 8460
Email: info@crosswordcybersecurity.com
Tom Ilube, Chief Executive Officer
Mary Dowd, Chief Financial Officer

Grant Thornton (Nominated Adviser) – Tel: +44 (0) 20 7383 5100
Colin Aaronson / Daphne Zhang

Hybridan LLP (Broker) – Tel: +44 (0)203 764 2341
Claire Louise Noyce

For media enquiries contact:

Duncan Gurney, GingerPR
crossword@gingerpr.co.uk - Tel: +44 (0)1932 485 300

About Crossword Cybersecurity plc

Crossword Cybersecurity plc focuses on the development and commercialisation of university research-based cyber security and risk management related software and cyber security consulting. The Group's specialist cyber security product development and software engineering teams work with its university partners to develop the research concept into a fully-fledged commercial product that it will then take to market. The Group's aim is to build up a portfolio of revenue generating, intellectual property based, cyber security products. Rizikon Assurance, Crossword's leading product, is a SaaS platform that enables medium to large companies to assess and manage all risks from their suppliers. Nixer CyberML, another Crossword product, is a new tool for businesses that want to solve advanced security and cybercrime problems, such as detecting and dealing with compromised accounts, fraud, and in-application denial of service attacks. Identiproof, Crossword's most recent product, is the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) verifiable credentials compatible middleware and wallet technology. Crossword's team of expert cyber security consultants leverages years of experience in national security, defence and commercial cyber intelligence and operations to provide bespoke advice tailored to its clients' business needs, including threat monitoring.

About DarkBeam Ltd

Founded by former military and intelligence professionals, Darkbeam provides a unified solution to protect against security, brand and compliance risks across an organisation's digital infrastructure. It helps simplify complex threats and works with organisations to augment their current approach to risk.

Everyone working at Darkbeam is in the intelligence game to deliver its clients the most timely and relevant actionable digital risk insights so they can better protect their organisations. This is underpinned by relentless innovation and a deep sense of duty and service.