Member Article

Secure Information Assurance targets £3m with SME service

Booming demand for cyber security is fuelling jobs and growth at Lancashire-based Secure Information Assurance (S-IA).

The business, based in Ribchester is targeting £3m turnover within three years by rolling out its trusted IT protection services to the SME market.

S-IA has long term contracts in place to protect key Government departments from the growing threat of digital hackers, criminals, terrorists and viruses. HMRC, the Ministry of Defence and The Treasury all use S-IA technology.

S-IA has secured £500,000 venture capital investment from the North West Fund for Digital & Creative, managed by AXM Venture Capital and has used some of this funding to develop a new product for SME’s sold on a fixed subscription model.

Last year, more than 74 per cent of SME’s suffered a security breach, up from 60 per cent in 2014.

The Government actively encourages cyber protection and offers grants of up to £5,000 for small firms to stiffen up their security arrangements as part of a national policy to tackle the cyber threat to the United Kingdom.

The company now plans to target SME’s with a simple subscription service which enables them to protect their IT system.

Martin Knapp, managing director of S-IA, said:

“Too many SME’s are vulnerable to data theft, identity theft and disruptive viruses. We’re taking our experience in defending some of the most sensitive areas in Government and rolling it out to SME’s in an affordable and simple way.

“We’re confident that now is the time for us to use our expertise to help small and medium sized businesses benefit from the same types of protection used by large, complex organisations.

“Security flaws in arrangements for the increasing number of mobile workers on laptops and devices are also forcing the need for business owners to place cyber security higher up on their agenda and we’ve developed technology which safeguards against this hazard even if a device is lost or stolen.

“The business benefits of being secure are massive. If you are an SME hoping to secure contracts with larger corporates or from the public sector, data security is one of the key issues for purchasers.

“We’re on a mission to make the digital perimeter of small businesses impenetrable with Cyber Defence, our simple subscription service.”

In 2013 Martin Knapp and co-director Steve Jewell led a buyout of Secure IA from New York-based Mycroft Talisen Inc, backed by investor Steve Hibbert.

www.s-ia.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sarah Howarth .