Leeds cybersecurity specialist announces expansion plans via six-figure NPIF loan
Summary
In addition to remote testing, it also carries out red team exercises which test an organisations defences by mimicking real-life cyber attacks including, in some cases, finding ways to breach security at the premises.In one case, a team from Cognisys successfully gained access to a companys IT system by visiting the premises posing as Openreach engineers. In another exercise at a Scotch distillery, the team entered the premises by booking a whisky tasting tour and were able to walk into the offices and remove equipment by pretending to be IT support.Cognisys was established in Halifax in 2019 by Steve Spence, who previously founded Wakefield-based IT business Servatech which he sold to Pure Data Solutions in 2014, and Arjun Pednekar, who had worked for global cybersecurity group NCC and had also run his own consultancy.In 2020, it moved to Leeds and also opened an office in Manchester. The business has doubled in size each year and currently employs 18 staff across both sites serving clients, which include some of the largest companies in the world. It expects to double its revenue again in the next financial year and to create a further eight to 10 jobs.Steve Spence, CEO of Cognisys, commented: Every day businesses are brought to a standstill, held to ransom or have funds stolen by cybercriminals who have breached their system. Popular access routes at present include buying stolen passwords on the dark web or tricking employees into clicking on a link in an email.However, businesses are starting to wake up to the fact that cyber attacks can happen to any firm large or small.