Ransomware protection for the suppliers that defence programmes depend on.
For most suppliers, ransomware in the defence sector is not a question of classified networks. It is about the sensitive but unclassified data and the production that primes and their programmes depend on. Helm contains ransomware at the data layer, keeps production running and builds the evidence your primes and assessors ask for.
Every defence programme rests on tiers of suppliers. Mid-tier manufacturers and engineering firms hold drawings, specifications and test data, and their deliveries keep the prime’s schedule on track. When ransomware reaches one of them, the prime’s schedule can slip too.
Security obligations follow that chain. In the United States, CMMC requirements flow down to subcontractors at all tiers that handle federal contract information or controlled unclassified information. In the UK, the MOD’s cyber contract condition, DEFCON 658, applies to all suppliers down the supply chain.
Many of these firms run lean IT teams, often with a managed service provider and without a round-the-clock security operations centre. Their security budget is often tied to a contract and its compliance deadline. What they need is a response that starts on its own and leaves a clear record.
Primes and assessors increasingly ask suppliers to prove their controls, not just describe them. CMMC verifies that contractors and subcontractors protect federal contract information and controlled unclassified information, with third-party assessment at higher levels.
In the UK, Def Stan 05-138 sets the cyber controls defence suppliers must meet at each of four risk profile levels. Since May 2025, Defence Cyber Certification gives suppliers a way to evidence those controls under DEFCON 658. Canada is following a similar path, with Level 1 of its cyber security certification required in select defence contracts from summer 2026.
The common thread is evidence. Ransomware preparedness counts when you can show that your controls work, and how an incident was handled from first alert to recovery.
The common thread is evidence.
Helm protects the file servers and shares where your drawings, specifications and production data live, with nothing installed on endpoints or production machines.
When encryption starts, Helm spots it in under a second and responds on rules your team has set and can explain to an assessor, with no AI involved. It isolates the compromised accounts and devices, while the rest of the business carries on and deliveries to your primes can stay on schedule.
Recovery is not done until it is verified clean. Helm verifies that systems are clean before they come back, so drawings, specifications and production data are restored from a known good state.
Every detection, containment action and recovery check is logged as it happens, with a timestamp. That record helps your team report an incident to a prime, answer an assessor and give the senior person who signs off your compliance the facts behind it.
Recovery is not done
until it is proven safe.
Control starts before an attack, by knowing where it could spread. When it hits, the attack is contained in seconds and production keeps running. Afterwards, systems come back only once they are verified clean, with a record that shows how it was handled.
Defence suppliers share many of the same risks as other manufacturers. To see what this looks like for your programmes, talk to us.
