Security companies on official lists
Data > Security companies on official lists
A directory of private security companies built only from official lists: ICoCA member companies, UK Security Industry Authority Approved Contractors, UK companies registered for private security activities, SEC filers under the guard and armoured-car industry code, and recipients of US federal guard contracts, with each list's identifier, status and dates and links between entries with the same name and country.
Download the dataset (1.9 MB, zip, from Zenodo) · Code and documentation
| Source | International Code of Conduct Association; UK Security Industry Authority; UK Companies House; US Securities and Exchange Commission; USAspending.gov via the Mercenomics dataset us-guard-spending |
|---|---|
| Covers | Lists as downloaded on 29 October 2026 (Companies House snapshot of 1 October 2026); US contracts fiscal years 2008 to 2026 |
| Size | 20,636 entries, one per company per list, and 523 groups of entries linked across lists |
| Format | CSV tables, with a documentation file, the downloaded lists (without the 470 MB Companies House source files) and the code that builds and checks them |
| Version | 1.0.0, published 29 October 2026 |
| Licence | Data: CC BY 4.0. Code: MIT. The source lists keep their own terms (SIA and Companies House: Crown copyright; SEC and USAspending: public domain; ICoCA: factual entries reused with a link to the source). |
| DOI | 10.5281/zenodo.23772046 (all versions) · 10.5281/zenodo.23772047 (this version) |
What it is
There is no single official register of private security companies. Each authority keeps its own list for its own purpose: the International Code of Conduct Association lists the companies that have signed up to its human rights code, the UK Security Industry Authority lists the contractors approved under its voluntary scheme, Companies House lists every UK company by the activity it declares, the SEC files listed companies by industry, and the US government records who receives its guard contracts. This dataset puts the five lists side by side, keeps each list's own identifier, status and dates, and marks the companies that appear on more than one.
There are 20,636 entries. Most are small UK companies: 16,923 live UK companies give private security as an activity, and two thirds of them were incorporated in 2020 or later. ICoCA's 198 member companies are mostly headquartered in conflict-affected countries, led by Iraq (42), the United Kingdom (16) and Somalia (11). The lists rarely overlap outside the UK: 493 of the 719 SIA Approved Contractors share a name with a UK company registered for private security, but only 10 ICoCA members also hold US guard contracts under the same name, among them Triple Canopy, SOC and Michael Stapleton Associates.
A link is a name match, not proof. Entries are linked when their names match after legal-form words are removed and the country agrees; this does not prove they are the same legal entity. Every link is listed so it can be checked. No personal details are included: UK locations are given only as post town and postcode district.
What it cannot be used to say
- It cannot say how many private security companies a country has: the lists cover different things, and most countries have no list here.
- Being on a list is not a mark of quality. ICoCA membership and SIA approval are voluntary schemes with their own standards; Companies House and SEC codes are chosen by the companies themselves, and a company coded for private security may never have traded.
- It cannot show that a company missing from a list is unlicensed or unregulated.
- A name match is not proof of identity. Different companies can share a name, and the same company can appear under different names (a parent and its subsidiary are not linked).
- Not every US guard-contract recipient is a security company: facilities-management firms and prison operators also hold guard contracts.
How it was checked
- Every record of every list is in the directory once, and no identifier appears twice within a list.
- For all 718 SIA entry pages read, the approval end date matches the register list (one page returned a server error).
- Every SEC company's own filing record gives the guard and armoured-car code, and every Companies House company kept has the private security activity code.
- The US guard-contract recipients add up to the us-guard-spending total, less its two placeholder entries, to $0.1 million.
- No telephone numbers appear, UK locations are only town and postcode district, and every link joins entries with the same name and country.
What is in the file
Lists
| List | Who keeps it | What being on it means | Entries |
|---|---|---|---|
| ICoCA member companies | International Code of Conduct Association (Geneva) | The company has joined the association that oversees the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers, as a certified member, member or affiliate | 198 |
| SIA Approved Contractors | UK Security Industry Authority | The company has met the standards of the UK's voluntary Approved Contractor Scheme for the sectors listed | 719 |
| Companies House, SIC 80100 | UK Companies House | A live UK company that gives "private security activities" as one of its activity codes | 16,923 |
| SEC, SIC 7381 | US Securities and Exchange Commission | A company that files with the SEC under the code "Services-Detective, Guard & Armored Car Services" | 52 |
| US federal guard contracts | USAspending.gov, via the Mercenomics dataset us-guard-spending | The company received a US federal guard-service contract (product and service code S206), fiscal years 2008 to 2026 | 2,744 |
Files
| File | Contents |
|---|---|
data/clean/directory.csv | One row per company per list (20,636 rows) |
data/clean/cross_listed.csv | Every link: the entries that share a name key and country across lists (523 groups, 1,067 rows) |
data/clean/check_report.md | Results of the checks |
Columns
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
list | ICoCA, SIA Approved Contractor, Companies House SIC 80100, SEC SIC 7381 or US federal guard contracts |
list_id | The list's own identifier: ICoCA member ID, SIA ACS reference, Companies House company number, SEC CIK, or the US Unique Entity ID |
name | The name as the list gives it |
trading_name | SIA: the trading name after "t/a"; US contracts: other names recorded for the same entity ID |
country | ICoCA: headquarters country; SIA and Companies House: United Kingdom; SEC: from the business address; US contracts: the recipient's country codes |
place | UK: post town and postcode district; SEC: city and state; otherwise blank |
status | ICoCA membership category; SIA approval end date; Companies House company status; SEC latest filing date; US last fiscal year with a contract action |
since | ICoCA joining date; Companies House incorporation date; US first fiscal year with a contract action |
detail | ICoCA service type and certification; SIA approved sectors; Companies House activity codes and company type; SEC tickers and latest annual report; US guard-contract obligations, awards and parent company |
source_url | Where the entry can be seen |
name_key | The name used for linking |
country_codes | The country as ISO 3166 three-letter codes, used for linking |
also_on | The other lists on which the same name key appears in the same country |
Cite
Azom, Kazi Affnann (2026). security-company-registers: private security companies on five official lists (ICoCA, UK SIA, UK Companies House, SEC and US federal guard contracts) (Version v1.0.0) [Data set]. Mercenomics. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23772047
The DOI above is for version 1.0.0. To always point to the latest version, use 10.5281/zenodo.23772046. Found an error? Report it on the Corrections page.