Cyber security specialist bags £750K worth of contract wins

Paul Harris

Manchester-based cyber security firm Secarma is celebrating three contract wins worth more than £750,000.

The deals will see the company, which recently appointed managing director Paul Harris, provide penetration testing and consultancy services to a global software firm and a large-scale industrial control systems (ICS) operator.

There are indications that the recent WannaCry ransomware attack, which forced the NHS to power-down and put thousands of patients at risk, is acting as a wakeup call to organisations on cybersecurity, with Harris claiming Secarma has seen a marked increase in enquires since the attack.

Harris said: “These deals demonstrate a maturing understanding of the scale of threat that’s now at play. There’s still, even now, a reticence to act proactively and there are still many senior heads buried in the sand on cybersecurity.

“Signing up an ICS company is a significant moment, because fears of attacks on critical national infrastructure are becoming more acute since the NHS was hit. The realisation that cyber-attacks could shut down power, disrupt transport or cause any other type of critical infrastructure to fail is finally hitting home. We are being asked with increasing frequency to carry out controlled cyberattacks around the globe on power stations, oil rigs, shipping etc.

“It’s fair to say that the phone is ringing more since the last attack and we are being asked with increasing frequency to carry out controlled attacks around the globe on power stations, oil rigs and transport systems.

“No one wants to be the next public sector department or business making headlines for the wrong reasons. We’re trying to advise people that regular external security testing and training should be built into their operational plans as a matter of course, rather than being bolted-on as an afterthought, or worse following a costly cyber-attack or data breach.”

Secarma researchers work closely with both public and private sectors to identify new threats, eliminate vulnerabilities and protect businesses all over the world from the next big attack.

Secarma, owned by UKFast founder and chief executive Lawrence Jones, acquired CHECK and CREST accredited security business Pentest Ltd in 2016 and now boasts an international team of more than 50 ethical hackers and security experts, operating out of 10 cities around the world.

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