Platform, Security & Operations
Cybersecurity
What this category covers
Four kinds of work, and it is worth knowing which one you are buying. Prevention closes doors before anything happens — hardening, access management, staff training, consent implementation. Detection finds out that something is wrong — audits, vulnerability assessments, monitoring. Response deals with the aftermath — malware cleanup, incident response, forensics. And assurance proves your position to somebody else — compliance readiness, penetration testing, security questionnaires.
The third is the one that comes to mind first. But prevention and assurance are the two you can buy before anything has gone wrong — prevention closes doors while they are still cheap to close, and assurance produces the evidence that unblocks a stalled deal. Both live in the unglamorous material — passwords, backups, updates, access reviews, policies, and the documents a large customer demands before signing.
Enquiries here arrive for one of four reasons. A deal has stopped because a buyer, insurer or auditor asked for evidence nobody has. Something has already happened and trading has halted. A peer company was hit and the question became urgent. Or a system has been inherited and nobody knows what is inside it.
Every engagement begins the same way — written authorisation naming the systems and dates, a record of the position before anything is changed, and a scope that states what is excluded as clearly as what is included. Nothing here is sold with a guarantee of safety, because none exists. What is sold is a measurable reduction in risk, evidence you can show to whoever asked, and a plain account of what is still open.
- Services
- 9
- Detailed pages
- 9
12
Cybersecurity
9 services
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01
Security audit & vulnerability assessment
Systems scanned, then a risk report in priority order.
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02
Penetration testing
Ethical hacking — a real attack simulated, then reported.
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03
Malware removal & site cleanup
A hacked site cleaned, delisted and hardened.
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04
Compliance readiness
Gap analysis and controls for GDPR, SOC 2, ISO 27001 or HIPAA.
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05
Identity & access management
SSO, MFA, role-based access and offboarding hygiene.
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06
Security awareness training
Phishing simulations and a staff training programme.
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07
Incident response & forensics
Containment, investigation and recovery during a breach.
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08
Endpoint & network security management
Firewalls, EDR and patching, managed monthly.
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09
Privacy & cookie consent implementation
Consent banners, data mapping and privacy policies.
How the work runs.
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01
Scope
What you actually need from Cybersecurity, written as deliverables rather than adjectives.
A day or two
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02
Price and date
A fixed scope, a number and a delivery date, agreed before anyone starts.
Same week
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03
Build
The work itself, with something you can open and look at rather than a status report.
The bulk of it
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04
Handover
Files, access and a walkthrough. Nothing is held hostage.
Final day
See where the site stands before you brief anyone.
Before scoping Cybersecurity work, it helps to know what the site is doing today. The audit reports what it checked, what it found, and — the part most tools leave out — what it could not check, and why.
Questions people ask before they commit.
- We have never done any of this. Where should we start?
- With the cheapest work, not the most impressive. Multi-factor authentication on six accounts — domain registrar, email admin, hosting or cloud, bank, payment gateway and code repository — a password manager, a backup somebody has actually restored rather than assumed, software brought up to date, and a written process for removing access when people leave. That list prevents more real loss than anything further up the range, and it is the honest first recommendation when someone arrives asking for something larger.
- Do you need written permission before looking at our systems?
- Always, without exception. Scanning or probing a system without the owner's written authorisation is an offence under the Computer Misuse Act in the UK and the CFAA in the US, and good intentions are not a defence. Every engagement starts with a short scope document naming the systems in and out of scope, the dates, and the person authorised to sign. Verbal approval or a message thread is not a substitute, and where a third party hosts the system their permission may be needed too.
- Will you tell us we are secure when the work is done?
- No. Every report we write says the same thing — this is a review of the position on this date, and systems change, so it is a snapshot rather than a guarantee. What you will be told is which routes in are closed, which risk has been reduced, what remains open, and whose responsibility each remaining item is. Anyone offering to make you hack-proof is either mistaken or selling.
- A customer is asking for a certificate. Can you issue one?
- No, and neither can any consultancy. SOC 2 reports come from independent CPA firms, ISO 27001 from accredited certification bodies, and compliance with data protection law is judged by regulators. What we provide is readiness — the gap analysis, policies, controls and evidence that get you to that door in a state where the audit can succeed. The distinction is legal rather than semantic and it is made before any work is agreed.
- What is the difference between an audit, a vulnerability assessment and a penetration test?
- An audit or vulnerability assessment identifies weaknesses and explains their business consequence without exploiting them. A penetration test proves what an attacker could actually reach, under written authorisation and a defined scope, and is priced by the number of testing days it takes rather than by the length of the finding list. Many buyers are told to get a pen test by someone whose requirement an assessment would satisfy, so it is always worth sending us the exact wording of the request before deciding.
- Can you help while an incident is actually happening?
- Yes, on an emergency basis. Before anyone arrives, three actions are safe in every scenario — isolate affected machines from the network but do not power them off, stop anyone deleting or reinstalling anything, and change passwords from a device known to be clean. Preparation bought in advance, including a tested restore and a written response plan, is what most reliably shortens an incident.