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Jonathan McHargConsulting

IT Security & Compliance

Certification, compliance, and knowing where you actually stand.

Most businesses find out about their security posture in one of three ways: a customer asks for a certificate, an insurer asks a question, or something goes wrong.

All three are easier with someone who has done it before.

Three things that sound similar and aren't

Service The question it answers
Security Review "I don't know where we stand." One-off, broad, discovery.
Cyber Essentials "Someone requires a certificate." A defined standard, usually with a deadline.
Security Monitoring "I want to know it stays right." Ongoing, checked nightly, reported monthly.

They're a sequence more than a choice. The review finds out. Remediation fixes. Cyber Essentials certifies. Monitoring keeps it that way.

Most people start with whichever one their circumstances forced on them.

The services

Cyber Essentials & Cyber Essentials Plus

Increasingly a condition of winning work — and more involved than it looks. I prepare your business for certification and manage the process end to end; certification is issued through my accredited partner.

Security Monitoring

Your Microsoft 365 estate checked every night, explained every month in plain English, with the noise taken out before it reaches you.

Microsoft 365 Backup

Microsoft doesn't back up your data. Email, files, SharePoint and Teams, backed up daily and restorable to any point.

Data Protection & DPO

Most businesses don't need a Data Protection Officer — quite a few have been told otherwise. The statutory role where it's genuinely required, and practical support where it isn't.

IT Security Review

Where you actually stand — your Microsoft 365 tenant against best practice, a Cyber Essentials-based assessment, your estate, backups and perimeter.

ISO 27001 Readiness

Preparing an organisation for certification — the management system, the evidence, and training your team to keep it running.

PCI DSS Compliance

Payment card compliance, with particular depth in hospitality.

Disaster Recovery Planning

What happens when it stops, how long you can stand it, and whether your current plan would actually work. Seven years doing this at Exxon Mobil.

Find out where you actually stand.

Most businesses have a rough idea that their security is "probably alright". A review replaces that with something you can act on — and show to an insurer.