Cyber security for UK accountants and financial firms.

Phishing and BEC targeting client payment instructions is the most damaging risk, with attackers impersonating clients or suppliers to redirect payments during busy periods. Ransomware timed around tax-deadline crunch periods, when firms are least able to tolerate downtime, is another major threat, alongside compromise of client portals and accounting platforms and insider misuse of sensitive financial data. Because accountancy and financial services firms hold detailed financial and personal data on many clients at once, a single breach can affect a large number of people and trigger both regulatory scrutiny and serious reputational damage across your client base.

Our UK Security Operations Centre monitors your endpoints, servers, cloud platforms and email around the clock, using automated detection combined with human analysts who investigate anything unusual, day or night. If suspicious activity is detected — an unusual login, a spike in file encryption activity, or a suspicious email pattern — the SOC can isolate the affected device and alert you immediately, rather than waiting for someone to notice the next morning. This matters particularly for accountancy firms because attacks often land outside office hours or during peak filing periods, when nobody in-house is watching but the risk of disruption is highest.

Accountancy and financial services firms are trusted with sensitive financial data, client funds access and payment processes, making them a high-value target for BEC fraud and ransomware alike. The FCA has clear expectations around operational and cyber resilience, and professional bodies like ICAEW, ACCA and CIMA increasingly expect firms to demonstrate adequate security controls. A breach during a busy filing period could be catastrophic, both financially and reputationally, at exactly the time clients depend on you most. Investing in cyber security protects client trust, regulatory standing and your firm's ability to operate reliably when it matters most.

Pricing depends on the number of staff, client-facing systems and which platforms you use, so we scope this properly on a short call rather than quoting a flat rate. Cyber Shield awareness training, useful for demonstrating staff training to PI insurers and professional bodies, starts at £0.99 per user per month on the Team plan, with a 14-day free trial and no credit card required. Ongoing services such as Cyber Essentials Plus, email security and 24/7 SOC monitoring are quoted per user or device monthly, and we provide a clear, itemised proposal before any commitment.

Cyber Essentials typically takes one to three weeks from starting the self-assessment, and Cyber Essentials Plus, which adds an on-site or remote technical audit, generally adds a further one to two weeks on top. For firms with several offices or more complex IT environments, the process can extend to four to six weeks. We aim to schedule audits around your busiest periods, particularly avoiding January and other tax-deadline crunch windows, so certification work doesn't add pressure at the worst possible time for your team.

Yes. Small and sole-practitioner accountancy firms handle just as much sensitive financial data as larger practices and are often targeted precisely because attackers assume smaller firms have fewer defences in place. Many PI insurers and professional bodies now expect evidence of basic cyber hygiene regardless of firm size. We scale our services to match smaller practices' budgets and staff numbers, prioritising the highest-impact protections — MFA, email security and Cyber Essentials — so smaller firms get proportionate, affordable protection without needing an in-house IT security function.

The core benefits are reduced exposure to BEC and invoice fraud, continuous protection during high-risk periods like tax deadlines, and demonstrable compliance evidence for FCA, PI insurers and professional bodies. You also gain predictable monthly costs instead of the unplanned expense of responding to an incident after the fact, and staff who are better equipped to spot suspicious payment requests after proper awareness training. For client-facing firms, being able to confidently answer security questions from clients and insurers is itself a commercial advantage that builds trust and can support winning new business.

General IT support for accountancy firms typically covers software, hardware and network issues, but rarely includes 24/7 threat monitoring, BEC-specific email security or the incident response capability needed when something goes wrong. Many firms discover this gap only after an incident, when it becomes clear their IT provider was managing infrastructure rather than actively watching for threats. We work alongside existing IT providers rather than replacing them, focusing on security-specific services like monitoring, email security and Cyber Essentials while your IT provider continues handling day-to-day support and systems.