32 | Northern Enterprise Awards 2022 Oct22560 Most Forward Thinking IT Consultancy - North West & Customer Service Excellence Award 2022 Operating throughout Greater Manchester and beyond, Inology IT is a leading provider of bespoke IT solutions. Whether it is IT support packages or cyber security frameworks, Inology IT devotes itself to providing premium services that truly benefit you as a business owner. We find out more from Technical Director, Brett Casterton about the firm and just how important it is to protect your business from cybercrime. The UK currently has the highest number of cybercrime victims per million internet users at 4,783 as of December 2022 – up 40% over 2020 figures (source: www.aag-it. com). In fact, cybercrime is one of the biggest IT challenges for businesses and individuals in the digital era as hackers are becoming increasingly more brazen, and constantly finding new and innovative ways to procure information online. To prevent the victimisation of your business, it is imperative to implement and maintain a solid IT security framework. For a small business or a business that lacks a large IT department, this can be a rather complicated and costly process, however, Manchester-based Inology IT specialises in the provision of premium IT support and solutions. Founded more than a decade ago by Brett Casterton, Inology IT works to cure all IT challenges for small businesses with its tailored support, project work, cloud services, and comprehensive cybersecurity services. In essence, Inology IT is a friendly, local, and personal IT department that is always on hand to provide support. Brett and the team take a proactive and bespoke approach to maintaining, enhancing, and securing clients’ IT systems and strive to tackle problems before they arise, focus on doing the right thing, and act with integrity. Indeed, the company prides itself on placing the clients’ businesses and teams above technology – this is an integral part of the company’s ethos. Brett, who started his IT career just before the millennium, has recently written an eBook about cybercrime and ways to help protect small businesses from falling victim. “Everyone knows someone who has had an account hacked,” he said. “We take businesses on a journey - what was good yesterday isn’t good today. We give help, support, and guidance on policies and procedures to keep them safe.” Brett is keen to stress that cybercrime is no longer “one man sat in his bedroom” but rather an office full of hackers working actively to compromise your company’s assets. And cybercrime now takes many forms. Phishing, for example, is a technique that hackers use to mislead you into providing sensitive information and personal data by making it appear to have come from a legitimate source, such as a bank or building society. Whilst most of us are aware of these dangerous emails, they are now so sophisticated and realistic, that thousands are still falling for these scams. Phone hacking is also on the rise, with highlyadvanced software being implemented to access over-the-phone lines and, for those with sensitive information stored on their mobile devices, such as banking details or passwords, it can be devastating. Similarly, cloud threats are increasing at an alarming rate, largely due to the ‘new normal’ of hybrid and remote working that has come into play since the Covid-19 pandemic. For those using the cloud to store sensitive information and customer data, data theft and leakage, account hijacking, technology vulnerabilities in shared environments, and denial of service attacks are all very real threats. “At least 80 percent of clients are in the cloud,” Brett states. “Threats can come from several different landscapes. We have a multi-layered approach through different platforms and partners – it’s like peeling an onion; hackers would need a massive skillset to get through each layer.” Another type of cybercrime which has seen a rapid surge since the pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns, are ransomware attacks, with the average extortion amount also increasing as criminals now target much larger, and usually privately held, organisations. But Brett and Inology can provide a variety of ways to protect your business, whatever the threat, including regular audits to find any potential gaps in your protection as well as ensuring you have a variety of different security measures in place. “We create a tech roadmap to find what they are doing well and where there are things to address and provide solutions and costs,” Brett explains. “While day to day, we do housekeeping and look after tech changes.” Brett’s approach is deeply rooted within the services that the company offers. Boasting ISO27001, ISO9001, and Cyber Essentials certifications, Inology IT provides comprehensive IT support packages that guarantee 24/7 support, as well as remote monitoring and maintenance, cyber security, and data backup, along with an account manager. In addition, it offers cloud solutions, IT security, technology procurement, and more. Each of these services are designed to supply clients with the best possible outcomes whilst remaining reasonably priced. “Our support goes above and beyond fixing things when they aren’t working,” elaborates Brett. “We take a proactive approach of maintaining, enhancing, and securing your IT to tackle potential issues before they arise, while also educating and guiding your team to ensure they get far more from technology in their daily work.” To further ensure the quality of its solutions, Inology IT has established partnerships with leading names in technology, including Microsoft. For example, the company’s partnership with the leading technology manufacturer, Dell, has Inology IT
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