Hi,

As with everyone at this time of year I follow the extremely unhealthy habit of trying to look at what I will improve over the next 365 days (I will return to the gym). This year I also decided to take a look at what went wrong over 2015 for the IT industry and unsurprisingly the first thing I came across was the many failings of huge companies when it came to data protection. This inspired the idea that we will make sure all our clients are up to date with security with a set of blog posts throughout January to help you start your year securely.

Late last year one of our directors posted this article on LinkedIn about the much publicised breach at TalkTalk but, as our director noted at the time, it isn't for us to pass judgement on this we need to leave it to the ongoing investigation by the appropriate authorities to report on the facts in due course. This was not only embarrassing for the company but potentially left the company with large fines and even worse a really big mess to clean up that upset both consumers and businesses. For any company that takes personal data a loss in confidence like this can be devastating and TalkTalk's share price dropped by 10% within hours of the London Stock Exchange opening the morning after.

However, this breach really highlighted the importance to us as a company of making our customers aware of the potential threats to their data. We have pushed to be on the forefront of data security so we can bring our users the most secure solution for their business. However, many large companies have neglected their security in 2015 and have been left red faced in the media and worse. Take a look at some of the biggest data breaches of the last decade here.

Part of our push was to make sure we could provide top level security which meant getting involved with the government's Cyber Essentials Scheme which Mike sums up brilliantly in his article What is Cyber Essentials and what does it mean for the Nuclear Industry? 

If you are concerned about your companies security, or would like more information about Cyber Essentials please feel free to drop me an email or you can call 01925 838386

Thanks for reading and I hope this helps start your year well with good habits, not making false promises to yourself about gym commitments like the rest of us!

All the best and a happy new year,

Tom