Cyberfort: The Compliance powerhouse

In the book Future Crimes, Marc Goodman spoke of the concept of ‘In Screens we trust’, repurposing the oft quoted phrase ‘In God we trust’. He proposed that we are now increasingly putting our faith in the information displayed on our digital screens without questioning its validity. The screen tells us something, and we accept it and comply.

Yet in a world where we are increasingly reliant on data and algorithms, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning, how can we be sure we’re not misplacing our trust, and putting ourselves at risk?

Our digital lives now spill into every aspect of our real lives, including every footprint we generate through our social media activity, our family photos and videos, our fitness data, our bank accounts, mortgage details, health records, and of course our client and customer data.  We’re increasingly living our lives online and share data in ways and quantities that few could have imagined a few short years ago, and there is no sign of this trend slowing. Our reliance on technology and data used to be a ‘nice to have’, today we’ve become high-dependency.

Every day we hear about companies suffering from data breaches and cyberattacks. Everything from breaches caused by human error through to criminals attacking systems and demanding money with menaces, it’s all played out online. So we’re forced to ask ourselves, ‘Who can I trust? And how can I build trust with them?’ We need to get better at asking these questions because trusting those we bestow our digital lives on to has not just become important, it’s now crucial if we’re going to protect ourselves, those we love and those people and organisations who are our own customers.

It’s easier than you think.

Although the question ‘How do I develop trust in a digital world?’ may sound difficult to answer, most organisations will choose ‘Demonstrate your compliance’ to answer it. Asking organisations to prove they comply with relevant security standards and regulations will give you some level of comfort that the organisation in question is doing all the right things to protect the data you entrust them with.  But as Steve Covey once said, ‘Compliance does not foster innovation. Trust does. You can’t sustain long-term innovation in a climate of distrust.’

So compliance is not enough for an organisation to earn trust. But how do we do that in an increasingly digital and technical world? I believe that it should be the same as it is in the real world. It just requires a few additional steps and considerations, and compliance with standards still plays a big part in it.

Knowing you, knowing me.

Getting to know someone often involves getting to know their backstory, their history and perhaps seeking to understand their values and outlook on life.  Whilst this may sound like the start of a romantic relationship, it should in fact be the start of all good relationships because it sets the foundation upon which you can build.

If you were to come to the Cyberfort website for example, you can easily see what our mission is, what our values are and what credentials we hold. Indeed the impressive array of certifications we hold as a company are exemplary:  

• We own and operate two ISO 27001 and PCI DSS-certified data centres in Kent and Newbury, with additional offices in central London, Wakefield and Newcastle.
• Cyber Essentials+ certified across all areas of the Cyberfort organisation.
• An accredited Certification Body for Cyber Essentials.
• An Assured Service Provider for the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
• A Crest-accredited penetration testing company.
• A CHECK-accredited penetration testing company.
• A Government-approved cloud computing supplier listed on the UK Government’s G-Cloud 11 framework

As a company we’re proud of our impressive and hard-won list of accreditations. We believe these certifications and credentials help us to demonstrate the depth of understanding we have of information security. Above all, these accreditations help us demonstrate that we can be trusted! And it should give you comfort to know that we have invested heavily in our technical and operational security measures to protect the data that you entrust us with.  

By reviewing our credentials, and looking around our website you start to know us.  You are also welcome to visit our data centres in Kent and Newbury where you will have the opportunity to meet and get to know our highly trained and experienced team of engineers who will take care of your data.  

Knowing these things forms the foundation of trust that we at Cyberfort are so proud of, which hopefully means you’ll begin to like us.

People like you. Like us.

Whilst many believe that our business is highly technical, we actually believe we’re in business to help people. The method we use might be of a technical nature, but we like working with people to understand their problems, needs and wants so that we can help make their life easier and safer.

That’s not to say our people aren’t highly qualified and steeped in technical knowledge and experience, because they certainly are.  Within Cyberfort, our people hold the following credentials. This means that we can help you navigate the often confusing path towards a more secure business, without getting lost or trapped down dead-ends!

The credentials held by the Cyberfort team include:

• CISA  (Certified Information Security Auditor)
• CISM (Certified Information Security Manager)
• CISMP (Certificate in Information Security Management Principles)
• CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional)
• CompTIA Security+
• GDPR Practitioner
• CPSA (CREST Practitioner Security Analyst)
• CREST Registered Tester (CRT)
• CTM (Check Team Member)
• CRISC (Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control)
• CPNI Police Assured Secure Facility Assessor
• ISO 22301 Business Continuity Lead Auditor and Lead Implementor
• ISO 22701 Information Security Lead Auditor and Lead Implementor
• NCSC Certified Professional (CCP) Accreditor
• NCSC Certified Professional (CCP) Security & Information Risk Advisor (SIRA)
• PRINCE 2 Agile Practitioners

Although it’s vital that the organisation you choose to help protect you employs people with these skills, we believe it’s just as important that they speak the same language as you, and have the motivation and empathy to truly understand your business. By understanding that we have the capability and desire to help you, and liking our teams approach, then we believe this leads to trust.

Conclusion: Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and years to repair.

Building trust is important to us all.  In business, just like in our day-to-day lives, we prefer to interact with people and organisations we know and trust.  It takes time to build that trust, and it takes time to build an organisation that can demonstrate it’s worthy of that trust.  I believe this is what Cyberfort has done.

Cyberfort is a genuine Compliance Powerhouse. We have the right people, with the right knowledge and experience, the right skills and the right personalities, and we can demonstrate time-and-again that we are an organisation that is worthy of your trust.  I believe this is what is needed in our increasingly data-driven world, and what each of us is actually looking for: a trusted partner who can help.

Our approach is actually relatively simple. We believe our approach to compliance sets us apart in an industry where accountability, professionalism and transparency are so vitally important in building trust. And isn’t that ultimately something we’re all looking for?