Two companies have joined forces in a bid to help protect businesses across Wales.
The Swansea based IT support company Pisys.net have partnered with Newport consultancy Wolfberry Cyber Security.
Wolfberry, an ethical hacking company, has offices in London and Dubai and helps organisations identify and manage cyber risks across a variety of sectors.
“Cybercriminals are actively targeting businesses of all sizes,” said Wolfberry CEO Damon Rands.
“A report earlier this year by insurance firm Hiscox revealed that 55% of businesses had already faced an attack in 2019, up 40% from 2018, and almost 75% of firms were ranked as novices in terms of cyber readiness.”
Pisys.net director Steve Bain added: “Even the big firms who are perceived to have the resources in place to prevent cybercrime are vulnerable, so it’s no surprise that smaller firms are being targeted as the IT security systems in place are either non-existent or in many instances, out of date.”
Businesses holding sensitive data such as bank details, addresses, dates of birth are of particular interest to criminals; however, any company could potentially be held to ransom and blackmailed if a hacker managed to get into the system and lockout users from accessing any back-ups.
“Identifying the weak-points within a company’s IT infrastructure is key to protecting the organisation, but it takes a lot of time and resource to manually check every computer within an organisation for weaknesses which is why we developed the Viper,” said Mr Rands.
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Roughly the size of a flash pen, the Viper plugs directly into the computer and runs a real-time report that can be seen live by the tech team at Wolfberry.
“We test for a range of weaknesses, from outdated software that is sat in the background of the computer to third-party apps that may have weak security features,” explained said Mr Rands
“Most businesses are unaware of their IT weak points which is why the Viper is vital.”
While the Viper reports in real-time to the tech team at Wolfberry, it doesn’t access any files, web addresses or data, so privacy is always maintained.
“The Viper can see the hackers and viruses attempting to penetrate the computer in real-time, enabling us to inform the client where they have weaknesses and where the threat is coming from,” continued Mr Rands.
After identifying the weakness where Pisys.net can help.
“Encrypted off-site backups, regular security updates and staff training are just some of the ways for a business to protect themselves,” said Pisys.net director John Merrick.
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“The power of the Viper is that it identifies the weakness, allowing us to address the threat directly and tighten up the overall IT security.”
Mr Bain added: “The synergy between our two businesses is powerful. Wolfberry identifies the security issue and our team can fix it.”