The Client

John Stenton, Head of Information Technology at Thrive Homes, came to Cognisys with a clear goal. John wanted to improve the cyber security posture at Thrive and was looking for the right cyber security partner to help them achieve this.

Thrive owns and manages over 5,000 homes throughout Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire so it was crucial that the organisation had a clear picture of their cyber security levels, allowing them to identify and remediate any vulnerabilities and possible misconfigurations.

Cognisys began working with Thrive in 2019 where the team carried out an External Security Assessment and helped Them achieve Cyber Essentials Basic & PLUS certification. While we could see Thrive were taking great steps towards improving its cyber security posture, our aim is to always take our clients on a complete cybersecurity journey. Supporting organisations from their current state to an improved position on the Cyber Security maturity curve, future-proofing and securing their systems as much as possible.

Cognisys proposed a 3-year partnership with Thrive, which included a bank of testing and consulting days that could be put towards their annual penetration testing as well as services within our service catalogue. Cognisys advised Thrive should continue to look to attain the Cyber Essentials Basic & PLUS certification, knowing this would be a great way to get a clear picture of changes to their overall cyber position, while helping them prove their commitment to security.

Finally, we included SmartScan, monthly internal vulnerability management, to help Thrive keep on top of new security threats on an ongoing and immediate basis.

We are delighted to have established such a productive Cyber Security partnership with Thrive. We take great pride in not only having helped them become much more secure as an organisation, but to also have helped them to save on costs. This is crucial for any non-profit organisation and is just one of the biggest benefits of our longer-term agreements.

Results are confidential due to the sensitive information, but this is what John Stenton, Head of Information Technology at Thrive had to say.

“We loved working with Cognisys, it was very reassuring to have a full cyber security offering at our fingertips and feel happy that we have a clear plan in place to help us continue to improve our cyber security posture.

Thrive has worked with Cognisys for three years now, and we have been extremely happy with all aspects of the partnership. Not only has the quality of testing, vulnerability scanning and cyber essentials been excellent, but what really set them apart is their communication and client care. The account management and client team were exceptional. It’s a company policy to rotate cyber security suppliers, however, Cognisys has been our preferred partner for the maximum term permitted.

Cognisys have set an incredibly high standard for any incoming security organisation and I’d be happy and confident to recommend them.”