Amshire Stockport gains Cyber Essentials Certification

Stockport based leading North West IT specialists Amshire Solutions Ltd has been recognised for its expertise in ensuing computers are as safe as possible from cyber-attacks.

Amshire has achieved the Cyber Essentials accreditation, a UK government backed standard for companies taking all necessary steps to protect themselves from cyber-attacks and to keep customer data safe.

Cyber Essentials accreditation is also a requirement for all businesses planning to bid for government contracts that involve handling personal information. Certification is included as part of the National Cyber Security Strategy, with the primary aim of making the UK a safer place to conduct business online. 

Dave Taylor, Managing Director of Cheadle Hulme-based Amshire, said:

“Achieving Cyber Essentials is part of our ongoing strategy to always provide gold standard advice and services to our customers, we are continually up-skilling our staff to keep their knowledge of ever changing IT security standards as high as possible.

“Cyber Essentials also boosts the ability for Amshire to bid for large contracts and is part of our growth strategy at the company.”

The threat of cyber-attacks remains very real and widespread in the UK. New statistics from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) published in the 2019 Cyber Security Breaches Survey has shown that only 33% of businesses have cybersecurity policies in place.

Whilst security is improving overall, the threat of repeated attacks is high at companies where security is lax.

“Around 48% of businesses and 39% of charities who were breached or attacked, identified at least one breach or attack every month,” said Dave. “This shows that vigilance and awareness must be kept at the top of all company risk registers. Companies need to continually review their cyber security standards and ensure staff are trained properly as the hackers working outside the law are continually looking at new ways to breach data security.

“Human error is inevitable, but all companies can take steps to ensure security standards are as high as possible. Companies must also ensure they back up their data constantly and ensure they have a disaster recovery strategy in place.”

Amshire Solutions is an innovative and rapidly growing full-service IT and Business Support Company, providing clients with cutting-edge technologies and the know-how to apply them to their individual business models.

The company provides a full managed IT service to customers, from advice, commissioning and installation of IT solutions, through all on-going maintenance, repair needs and crisis management. Amshire has an IT help-desk staffed by skilled technical engineers.

Clients can choose from a range of flexible and cost-effective service plans to suit businesses from as little as three computers to 300-plus users.

Founded in 1995, Amshire’s high service levels are reflected in the fact that they have continually serviced some clients for more than 20 years.