Cybersecurity Insights

We’re fast approaching the middle of 2019, and already we’ve seen numerous announcements of major data compromises involving millions of personal data records being stolen, including:

1. Email addresses & passwords
2. Passport numbers
3. Social security numbers
4. Banking information & credit card data

While the largest breaches catch our attention and have done a lot to raise awareness to the threat these criminals pose to our society, what is often less well reported, and therefore, less well understood, is how the smaller end of the business world is being targeted. As an example, we rarely hear about the thousands of successful small to medium eCommerce websites that have been hacked, and are quietly leaking all their customer payment data to criminals every day.

As we celebrate our 10th anniversary this month, we are also celebrating winning the Queens award for our work within international trade. We are the first Qualified Security Assessor to receive this honour, and are one of seven businesses to win it in the Wiltshire area.

Over the 10 years, we have worked closely in shaping the policy with the PCI Security Standards Council since it was formed, as well as major card providers such as Visa and MasterCard.

Over the past four years, we have generated around 60% of our revenue from international sales. We have also opened new offices in Denver servicing North America, Sydney servicing Australasia, Frankfurt servicing Europe and São Paulo servicing Brazil through to 2018 and a new base in Singapore 2019 .

As a company we offer a range of services, including Managed Detection and Response Services (MDR), Digital Forensics, Compliance and Risk Services. We are the world's leading certification company for payment systems on Point-to-Point (P2PE) encryption and after recently teaming up with Tranwall, we are a global authority on ATM Cashout attacks.

Previously, we have been recognised by The Sunday Times as one of the top 100 SME exporters in 2017 and 2018.

The Queen's Awards recognise the achievements of Great British Companies, and has done since 1965. Only a few companies receive this great accolade for their work, after several hundred applications.

Co-founder and CTO Andrew Bontoft comments: ‘It is testimony to the brilliant work and dedication of the team, both in the UK and across the globe, that we’ve received this prestigious award. We are very proud of what the team has achieved and grateful for the recognition that this award brings. We would also like to thank our clients and suppliers for helping us achieve this amazing honour.’

CEO Andrew Henwood comments: ‘Foregenix’s aim is to protect businesses and organisations from criminals who attempt to endanger people’s livelihoods and futures for their own enrichment. It is a cause that resonates with our customers, in offering practical advice, baked in security and tangible risk reduction globally. We are incredibly humbled to be recognised and bestowed this prestigious award!’

 

We have joined forces with an Australian pioneer in payment card control technology to fight against the rise of global ATM Cashout fraud.

Australian-based Tranwall’s transaction security software will be offered with Foregenix’s Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and Threat Sweep services. Both services provide security visibility of business critical assets in a single pane of glass and prevent advanced targeted attacks with early detection and skilled response.

We have recently been securing a game reserve based in South Africa, to ensure their computer systems are secure from hackers, and also more worryingly - animal poachers.

Data breaches seem to be a regular feature in the news nowadays, especially since GDPR regulation kicked in last year. This higher frequency of articles announcing newly-hacked-victim-organisations gives an idea of the growing scale of the security problem - a trend that we have been talking and warning about for years.

Organisations particularly at risk of compromise are online businesses - eCommerce websites. In fact eCommerce websites are currently the most targeted type of organisation within the Payment Card Industry - simply because the crime is so much easier to execute. The reward for criminals is not as high as targeting a bank, but the crime is a lot easier to pull and scale too.