Bob Reid, CEO at ThinkingSafe, an innovative cyber security solutions company, speaks to us about what the company has done to receive such a prestigious award and the security challenges their clients are talking about at the moment.

ThinkingSafe is an award-winning UK cyber technology company which protects businesses of all sizes, from law firms and accountancy practices to healthcare, pharmaceuticals and government. Ransomware attacks have become so prevalent and expensive that all businesses need a reliable automated backup service, which secures every computer in the business, and their Recovery Shield Service is the perfect cost-effective solution.

CEO of the company, Bob Reid chats to us about what services ThinkingSafe offers and what the company does to protect clients’ best interests.

“Disaster Recovery Planning, Implementation and Management is one of our specialities, ensuring all information systems required by the business can be recovered quickly to alternative locations in the event of a disaster, and ensuring the business continues to function, without increased risk of cyber-attacks.

“Firms and practices that share confidential information with clients and partners are experiencing dramatic increases in targeted cyber-attacks, which are designed to steal confidential information about their clients, and our Information Shield Service is the ultimate solution for cyber security in the supply chain.

“We also offer a range of specialist services including bug sweeping, penetration testing, cyber security and personnel security consultancy. As a UK Government approved cyber security supplier and ISO27001 certified managed services provider with UK data centres and UK security operations centre, we are one of the most highly qualified and respected service providers in the country.”

As the CEO, Bob spends much of his time talking to customers and partners about their concerns relating to business continuity, disaster recovery, and cyber security. “I also work closely with the technical specialists in our security operations centre, who monitor disaster recovery readiness and cyber security on behalf of our customers, and with the research and development teams that produce our products,” says Bob.

ThinkingSafe works with a wide range of clients. Security in the supply chain has become a critical issue for large corporate and government clients, and they are demanding practical, cost-effective, and easy to use security solutions for their approved suppliers. As well as the large companies, Bob informs us how smaller companies benefit from the excellent customer service at ThinkingSafe.

“We are finding that many smaller companies are struggling to meet the security requirements imposed by larger clients, and monthly subscription to our automated services is often the key to unlocking new business revenue. We are also working closely with the legal profession, and are compiling a register of approved ‘digital trustees’, who manage legally controlled release of encryption keys, when companies have been locked themselves out of their own data.”

The biggest change in the industry is the increase in the number and sophistication of cyber-attacks, and the way they are targeting confidential client information, which is a massive threat for law firms and accountancy practices. In addition, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is probably the most significant regulatory factor for ThinkingSafe’s clients. “Despite the uncertainties of Brexit, the GDPR is actively forcing every corporate buyer to reconsider the security of their suppliers. The risk of being fined up to 4% of global revenue because of a security breach has forced businesses to refocus on malicious and accidental data breaches,” explains Bob.

In addition to changes in the industry, Bob tells us what current technology trends the firm follows in order to best serve clients, saying, “we work extensively on advanced cyber security research projects supported by the UK Government and Ministry of Defence, in collaboration with the Cyber Security Centre at the University of Warwick and the Information Security Group at Royal Holloway University of London.

“Our research programme includes topics such as distributed ledgers and block chains for secure information services, artificial intelligence for automating cyber defence, encrypted big data analytics for remote medical testing, and securing the internet of things.”

ThinkingSafe is a privately-owned UK cyber security company, with an amazing team of technical specialists, who have been developing innovative artificial intelligence technology and helping business customers to solve complex problems with simple cost-effective solutions since 1997. This makes the firm stand out from the crowd.

Looking to the future, ThinkingSafe is expecting to have their first 10,000 users for the Information Shield Service by the end of 2016, and hoping to exceed 100,000 by April 2017. They also aim to further grow their global customer base for Personnel Shield – their innovative fraud prevention insider threat detection software. Moreover, the company is launching a massive export drive with Commonwealth First as one of their UK Cyber Export Champions, and partnering with Vauban Group in Qatar and the wider Middle East.