What does a cybersecurity consultant do for a regulated business?

A cybersecurity consultant assesses your current security posture, identifies gaps against frameworks such as ISO 27001 or NIS2, and designs practical controls to reduce your risk. For regulated businesses this includes helping you meet specific compliance obligations, preparing for audits, and responding to incidents when they occur.

What is the difference between a vulnerability assessment and a penetration test?

A vulnerability assessment scans your systems to identify known weaknesses and produces a prioritised list of issues to fix. A penetration test goes further: a consultant actively attempts to exploit those weaknesses to show what a real attacker could achieve. Penetration testing gives you evidence of actual risk, not just a list of theoretical issues.

How long does a cybersecurity engagement typically take?

It depends on scope. A penetration test on a single web application typically takes one to two weeks including reporting. A full ISO 27001 gap assessment for a mid-sized organisation takes two to four weeks. Building and implementing a security programme is an ongoing engagement, usually structured in three to six month phases.

Which cybersecurity regulations apply to businesses in the Netherlands and UK?

NIS2 applies to operators of essential and important services across the EU, including healthcare, finance, and digital infrastructure. GDPR applies to any organisation processing personal data of EU residents. UK businesses additionally operate under the UK GDPR and Cyber Essentials requirements for government contracts. Financial firms face DORA from January 2025. Healthcare organisations in the UK must meet NHS DSPT requirements.

How do you measure the effectiveness of a cybersecurity programme?

Effective cybersecurity programmes are measured through a combination of technical metrics and business outcomes: mean time to detect and respond to incidents, the number and severity of vulnerabilities found and remediated, penetration test results over time, phishing simulation click rates, patch compliance rates, and audit findings. These should be reported to senior leadership on a regular cadence so that security investment decisions are based on evidence rather than assumption.

Cybersecurity

Defend what matters. Know your real exposure.

From risk assessments to implementing complete security solutions and frameworks, we help protect your business with cybersecurity matched to your sector, infrastructure, and threat profile, starting with what's deployed in your environment today.

Get in touch

The threat landscape

The risks are real and they're growing

These numbers reflect what organisations across every sector face right now.

of businesses have experienced a cyber incident in the past two years

Threats grow in volume and complexity every year, and no organisation is too small to be targeted.

of businesses have experienced a confirmed data breach

Many go undetected for months before discovery.

of employees admit to intentionally bypassing their organisation's cybersecurity policies

Technical controls alone are not enough. Behaviour and culture determine your real security posture.

of IT teams say shadow IT is a growing concern in their organisation

Unapproved devices, SaaS applications, and unmanaged cloud assets create exposure that traditional controls miss.

Statistics and threat data sourced from the ENISA Threat Landscape, the NCSC, Verizon, Sophos, Swimlane, Gartner, and FBI. Some figures represent general industry estimates drawn from multiple research sources.

How we can help

Security that works before, during, and after an incident

Security built on an unstable IT foundation does not hold. Every engagement starts by understanding your real environment, then scoped to your sector and actual threat profile. We work across the full vendor landscape and recommend what fits. Prevention, detection, response, the full cycle.

Governance, Risk & Compliance

We build the GRC foundations that keep your organisation secure and accountable, including: policies, procedures, standards, risk registers, and control mapping across ISO 27001, NIST, PCI DSS and GDPR, giving you everything auditors expect without the guesswork. You get a documented policy suite, risk register, and control mapping framework ready for auditors.

Asset Management & Data Classification

We help you map every system, device, application, and data set in your environment into an asset management system, classify it by sensitivity, and establish clear ownership so nothing falls through the cracks. You get a complete asset inventory with classification labels and documented ownership.

Vulnerability Management

Known vulnerabilities are among the most commonly exploited, yet most preventable breach vectors. We help implement the processes, procedures, and tooling needed to cover your full attack surface, and produce a remediation plan your team can prioritise and act on. We guide the setup of ongoing scanning to verify what's fixed and catch new exposures as they emerge. You get a complete vulnerability management programme: the plan, the tooling, and the ongoing visibility to stay ahead of it.

Network & Infrastructure Security

Your network is your perimeter. We harden it through segmentation, firewall and IDS/IPS configuration, and CIS baseline hardening, then validate it with vulnerability scanning and penetration testing to find weaknesses before attackers do. This approach is grounded in Zero Trust principles. You get a hardened network baseline, a vulnerability scan report, and penetration test findings.

Identity & Access Management

Most breaches start with compromised credentials. We design your least-privilege access model, define role-based controls and MFA requirements for critical systems, and guide your team through implementing privileged access management. You get a defined access control framework, MFA configuration guidance, and a documented privilege management procedure.

Application & System Security

Security built in from day one is far cheaper than fixing breaches later. We embed secure development practices (SDLC), manage patching and vulnerabilities, and keep configurations tight across every system in your environment. You get a patching schedule, vulnerability remediation plan, and secure development standards document.

Monitoring, Logging & Incident Response

We design your centralised SIEM logging architecture, define what to collect and retain, and build incident response playbooks your team can follow. When something happens, your team is ready to contain it fast, manage data breach notification obligations, and notify the right people. You get a SIEM design specification with recommended log sources, a tested incident response playbook, and a breach notification procedure.

Data Protection & Privacy

Whether it's personal data under GDPR or commercially sensitive information, we design your encryption approach for data at rest and in transit, establish retention policies, and define key management controls and data subject rights procedures aligned to your obligations. You get documented encryption standards, a data retention schedule, and key management procedures.

Third-Party & Vendor Risk Management

Your suppliers are an extension of your attack surface. We conduct vendor due diligence and risk assessments, put data processing agreements in place, define supplier security requirements, and continuously monitor third-party exposure. You get a vendor risk register, completed due diligence reviews, and DPAs with key suppliers.

Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery

We run business impact analyses, define RTO and RPO targets, design backup strategies with immutable copies, and stress-test everything through facilitated tabletop exercises and structured failover drills we design and guide your team through. Immutable backups are your primary line of defence against ransomware. You get a tested BCP/DR plan with defined RTO/RPO targets and a tabletop exercise report.

Security Awareness & Training

We run phishing simulations and role-specific workshops for developers, admins and leadership, building habits that change real behaviour rather than ticking a compliance box. You get a training completion report, phishing simulation results, and a recommended repeat schedule.

Change Management & Configuration Control

Many compliant organisations still create risk through poorly controlled changes. We design formal change approval processes, establish configuration baselines with drift detection, define separation of duties between dev and production, and put in place full audit trails for every system change. You get a formal change management process, configuration baselines, and a full audit trail.

Why Cyvra

Security that fits your business, not a template

Most cybersecurity firms start with a product catalogue and work backwards. We start with your business, goals, and strategy. Attack paths are predictable: stolen credentials, unpatched systems, misconfigured permissions. We build defences around those vectors, not a generic framework.

Experienced and certified team that works closely with you.

Deep experience across healthcare, finance, and hospitality sectors

You work directly with the consultant doing the work, from scoping through to delivery

Clear reporting with no jargon, so leadership can make informed decisions

Clients across healthcare, finance, and hospitality who trust us with critical infrastructure