Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

The castle-and-moat model is simple: build strong perimeter defences, trust everything inside. Firewalls, VPNs, and access controls create a protective shell, and the business assumes safety within that shell. But today’s attackers don’t always need to scale the walls. They can: Once inside, attackers move laterally, escalate privileges, and seek valuable targets like domain controllers, email servers, and customer data.

Notepad has been a fundamental tool since its debut in Windows 1.0 back in 1983. Over the years, it has served countless users for everything from jotting down quick notes to temporarily storing sensitive data such as passwords, phone numbers, and email addresses, due to its simplicity and ease of use. Many users, including myself, often rely on Notepad for this kind of temporary storage. It’s common to quickly paste sensitive information into a blank tab for convenience.

The GDPR sets out clear principles for how personal data should be handled. Here are some that AI tools can easily clash with.

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, or PCI DSS, is a set of globally recognised requirements designed to ensure that all companies that process, store, and transmit credit card data continually maintain a secure environment. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a small independent store or a large e-com brand, if your business handles payment data directly or through a payment gateway, PCI DSS applies to you.

A virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO) is a senior cybersecurity leader who works remotely with your business, typically on a part-time, retainer, or per project basis. They bring with them the expertise of a full-time CISO minus the expense of hiring one in-house. vCISOs tend to be brought in to help shape security, strategy, manage risk, and guide businesses through compliance frameworks such as GDPR, ISO 27001, or Cyber Essentials.

Penetration testing (or ‘pen testing’) is a critical cyber security practice that helps businesses identify and fix vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit them. However, most businesses prioritise external threats, such as phishing, malware, and network breaches, while overlooking threats and risks that exist within the network.