Cyber Security Services

Independent cyber security advisory, assessment and technical assurance tailored to the needs, risks and priorities of each organisation.

Cyber Security Advisory & vCISO

Independent, senior-level cyber security advice to help organisations make sound decisions, manage risk and maintain momentum. Engagements can be ongoing, interim or project-based depending on what the organisation needs.

Advisory & vCISO services

  • Virtual CISO / CSO support — ongoing or interim senior cyber security leadership

  • Cyber security strategy and roadmaps — priorities, investment and practical improvement planning

  • Governance, risk and executive reporting — security metrics, risk treatment, policies and board-level reporting

  • IT, MSP and security partner coordination — independent advice to help internal teams and external providers align priorities, work effectively together and make sound technical and security decisions

  • Security program and project advice — support for major changes and security initiatives, engaging business, IT, security, vendors and other stakeholders to align requirements, risks and responsibilities

Engagements can range from targeted advisory work to ongoing virtual CISO support.

Security Assessments & Improvement

Structured cyber security assessments against clearly defined standards, frameworks or technical requirements. We identify gaps, establish priorities and help organisations turn assessment findings into practical, measurable security improvements.

Assessment and improvement services

  • Essential Eight assessment and uplift — maturity assessment, evidence review, gap analysis and practical improvement planning

  • Security framework readiness — scoped assessments against agreed standards, frameworks or regulatory requirements, with clear findings and remediation priorities

  • Microsoft 365 security configuration reviews — focused assessment of relevant Microsoft 365, Entra, Intune and Defender controls against agreed requirements and recognised security good practice

  • Remediation and uplift planning — prioritised roadmaps, stakeholder coordination and practical support to implement agreed improvements

  • Assurance and audit readiness — evidence preparation, control mapping and readiness support ahead of internal or external reviews

Assessments are scoped with the client so the criteria, expected outcomes and depth of review are clear from the outset.

Penetration Testing & Technical Assurance

Independent technical security testing to identify exploitable weaknesses and provide clear, practical remediation advice. Testing is tailored to the agreed scope and combines automated discovery with experienced manual validation.

Penetration testing & technical assurance services

  • Web application and API penetration testing — manual and automated testing of authentication, access control, business logic and common web application vulnerabilities

  • External infrastructure testing — assessment of internet-facing systems, services and attack surface for exploitable weaknesses and misconfiguration

  • Internal network and infrastructure testing — identification of vulnerabilities, privilege escalation paths, segmentation weaknesses and other internal security risks

  • Vulnerability assessment and validation — identification, verification and prioritisation of vulnerabilities to help separate material risks from scanner noise

  • AI application and agent security testing — security assessment of AI-enabled applications, LLM integrations, agents and MCP implementations, including prompt injection, excessive permissions, data exposure, insecure tool use and trust-boundary weaknesses

  • Retesting and remediation assurance — targeted validation of remediation to confirm that identified weaknesses have been effectively addressed

Each engagement has a clearly defined scope, rules of engagement, testing approach and reporting requirements agreed before testing begins.

Incident Preparedness & Resilience

Prepare before an incident occurs and learn from incidents when they do. We help organisations establish practical response arrangements, test how people and processes will work under pressure, and strengthen recovery readiness.

Incident preparedness & resilience services

  • Incident response planning and playbooks — practical roles, escalation paths and response actions for common cyber incidents

  • Tabletop and crisis exercises — realistic scenarios that bring together executives, business, IT, security and external providers

  • Recovery readiness — review of backup, recovery, business continuity and disaster recovery arrangements, including recovery priorities and dependencies

  • Breach and crisis preparedness — preparation for communications, regulatory obligations, evidence preservation and stakeholder coordination

  • Post-incident review and improvement — independent review of incidents and lessons learned, with practical recommendations to strengthen future response

Exercises and preparedness activities are tailored to the organisation, its operating environment and the scenarios that matter most.

Specialist Cyber Security Projects

Not every cyber security requirement fits neatly within a standard service. Cyber Informed undertakes selected project-based engagements where independent security expertise, technical input or stakeholder coordination is required.

Where a requirement falls outside the core services, we work with the client to define a clear scope, objectives and expected outcomes.

Examples of specialist projects

  • Cyber security program development — policies, standards, governance, metrics and practical security improvement initiatives

  • AI security and governance — security risk, guardrails and governance for AI adoption, AI-enabled systems and emerging technologies

  • Technology and supplier assurance — independent security input into technology selection, suppliers, third parties and significant technology changes

  • Cyber risk and project support — security advice and stakeholder coordination for major business, IT, cloud and technology initiatives

  • Targeted security investigations and reviews — clearly scoped work addressing a specific security concern, risk or business requirement