Services / Privacy & security
Security that fits your life, not a sales pitch
Protecting your data and privacy is a large part of what we do. We use best-in-class systems and processes, and we take a proactive approach — but the approach is built around your actual circumstances rather than a standard package sold on fear.
01The approach
Most security advice is sold, not given
An enormous amount of what is marketed as security is either unnecessary for you, or something your devices already do.
The industry has an incentive to make you frightened and then sell you a subscription. We would rather look at what you actually have, what would genuinely hurt if it were lost or exposed, and who would plausibly want it — and then fix the handful of things that matter.
For most clients the real exposures are unglamorous and fixable: one password reused across everything, no second factor on the email account that can reset every other account, a backup that stopped working two years ago, and one person in the household or office who will act on a convincing message.
Getting those four right does more than any product you can buy.
02What we do
The practical work
- Account protection — proper two-factor authentication on the accounts that matter, and recovery arrangements that survive a lost or stolen phone
- Passwords — a password manager set up properly and, more importantly, set up so the household or office will actually use it
- Device security — encryption, screen locks, remote wipe, and the settings that decide what leaves your machine
- Email — the sensible defences against impersonation and invoice fraud, which is how small businesses actually lose money
- Backup and ransomware — copies held so that an attack, a theft or a fire cannot take both the original and the backup
- Privacy settings — reducing what your devices, browsers and apps quietly share, without breaking the things you rely on
- After an incident — if something has already happened, containing it, working out what was reached, and closing the door properly
- Teaching — showing you and your staff or family how to spot the messages that matter, which is worth more than any filter
We are also happy to review what another supplier has installed and tell you plainly whether you need it.
03Questions
Common questions about privacy and security
Do Macs need antivirus software?
Less than the adverts suggest, and the built-in protections are better than most people realise. What genuinely catches Mac users is phishing, fake support calls, and being talked into installing something — none of which antivirus reliably stops. We would rather spend the hour on that.
I think I have been hacked. What do I do first?
Call us before changing things at random. The order matters: securing the email account that can reset everything else usually comes first, and hurried changes can destroy the evidence needed to work out what was actually reached.
Is a VPN worth paying for?
For most people at home, no — the traffic is already encrypted and the VPN mostly moves the trust from your provider to theirs. There are genuine uses, and we will tell you if yours is one of them rather than selling you a subscription.
How do I keep my children's devices safe without spying on them?
There is a workable middle: proportionate technical limits, an agreement about what to do when something looks wrong, and no pretence that surveillance is the same as safety. We configure this for families regularly.
We handle client data. Does that change things?
Yes — practices, studios and family offices carry obligations to the people whose data they hold. We will look at where that data actually lives, who can reach it, and what happens if a laptop is lost, and put the gaps right.
Can you just review what we already have?
Happily. A review with a short written list of what to fix, in priority order, is often the most useful thing we can do — and it does not commit you to anything further.
Worried about something specific?
Tell us what is on your mind. We will tell you whether it is a real risk for you or something the industry has talked you into worrying about.