One of our clients is Ferryx, a relatively new business established in 2019. Heavily research-based, with links to the University of Bristol, the business is developing safe and effective bacterial products for the treatment and prevention of gut inflammation. With their first product, Ferrocalm, launched just last November, they are already seeing strong sales and employing two people full time. We met with them at Future Space in Bristol, and spoke to Dr Jenny Bailey, their CEO. We asked what made them come to the South West Cyber Resilience Centre for support – and how they’d found the experience so far.

Like many people who are deeply expert in their own fields, Jenny advised that cyber security was honestly a slightly terrifying prospect. “My technical skills are basic to say the least. I can get by. But I'm a bit of a technophobe. And the thought of, you know, cyber security just… I didn't even know where to start with it.”

With a batch of unsent product sitting behind her, Jenny reflected on the relevance of cyber security to all businesses. With the Royal Mail having recently been attacked, she was unable to despatch items overseas. “The risk of cyber attack to a small business is probably quite low,” Jenny felt. “But the impact would be severe. For me, it had been fear of the unknown that stopped me getting engaged with cyber security. Not knowing how much it was all going to cost.”

So we asked how she’d found SWCRC so far. “I’ve had the weekly emails and actually it's really simple. It makes things manageable and approachable. The first thing that came through was about passwords. I use a password manager now, and I’ve been telling my young son about using three random words for his own password, instead of his cat’s name! From our first interactions, the language that SWCRC uses is great. It's stuff that I can understand. You don't use technological jargon, you break it down in plain English and I really appreciate that. And when I want advice on things I'm going to come to you because I understand you. I've found the monthly newsletter good, there's a variety of things offered there.”