Cyber security for Sheffield businesses, delivered by people who turn up
Secure Chain is headquartered in Chesterfield, twenty minutes from Sheffield. We provide vulnerability management, penetration testing, compliance support and managed security to firms across South Yorkshire — with the practical advantage that when the work needs someone on site, we are there.
The Sheffield market is underserved between two extremes
Most Sheffield firms we meet sit between two unsatisfactory options. At one end, the big national providers: impressive decks, junior delivery teams, and an account manager who changes every quarter. At the other, the local IT support company doing its best with security on the side — well-meaning, but without the tooling or the specialism to run vulnerability management, penetration testing or an ISO 27001 programme properly.
Meanwhile the pressure is real. Manufacturers supplying into aerospace and automotive chains are being asked for Cyber Essentials Plus. Professional services firms are filling in client security questionnaires that get longer every year. And the threats — business email compromise, ransomware through unpatched remote access — do not check your postcode before they arrive.
Senior consultants, local accountability, no account-management layer
When you work with us you deal with the people doing the work. The consultant who scopes your penetration test is the one who runs it. The engineer who sets up your vulnerability management programme is the one who presents the monthly review. There is no handoff to a delivery team you have never met.
Because we are local, the work that benefits from being on site gets done on site: internal network testing, audit evidence gathering, incident response, and the initial discovery workshops where we walk the estate rather than reading about it in a questionnaire.
- Vulnerability management and VMaaS with monthly, human-reviewed reporting
- CREST-aligned penetration testing: web application, internal, external and cloud
- Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus preparation and audit support
- ISO 27001 gap analysis, implementation support and internal audit
- Managed security monitoring through our own UK-based operations
Everything in the engagement, set out up front.
Everything is delivered by our own consultants from our Chesterfield base. We do not resell other firms' services or pass your work offshore.
Vulnerability management
Continuous scanning, risk-based prioritisation, validated remediation tracking and monthly reporting your leadership will actually read.
Penetration testing
Scoped by a senior tester, executed manually, reported in plain English with remediation guidance your IT team can act on.
Compliance programmes
Cyber Essentials, CE Plus, ISO 27001 and DSPT — gap assessment through to audit day, with honest timescales.
Managed security
Monitoring, detection and response for firms that cannot justify an in-house security team but cannot afford to be without one.
Supplier security reviews
Practical assessment of the third parties your business depends on — the question your clients are increasingly asking you.
Incident response
Same-day local response when something goes wrong, with stabilisation first and commercial conversations second.
What you receive.
- A named lead consultant from day one
- Fixed-scope, fixed-price proposals after scoping
- Monthly service reviews with trend data, not just point-in-time snapshots
- Remediation actions written for the people who will execute them
- Audit-ready evidence packs for compliance engagements
- Direct phone access to engineers during incidents
Built for organisations that need the work done properly.
Manufacturing and engineering
Firms supplying into aerospace, automotive and advanced manufacturing chains where Cyber Essentials Plus is increasingly a condition of trade.
Professional services
Legal, accountancy and financial advisory firms facing client security questionnaires, SRA or FCA expectations, and conveyancing-fraud style email attacks.
Healthcare and care providers
Organisations working through DSPT submissions or handling patient data, where evidence needs to map to real controls.
Growing SMEs without security staff
Businesses of 20-300 people who need enterprise-grade security delivered as a service, without hiring a security team.
What changes once the work is done.
A security posture you can evidence
When a client, insurer or auditor asks what you do about security, you have reports, certificates and trend data — not reassurances.
Fewer surprises
Continuous visibility of your vulnerabilities and misconfigurations, instead of discovering them during an incident or an audit.
Contracts unblocked
Cyber Essentials, CE Plus or ISO 27001 delivered on realistic timescales, so supply-chain questionnaires stop being a fire drill.
Your IT team stays focused
We hand over prioritised, validated actions. Your IT people spend their time fixing what matters, not reading scanner output.
Someone to call
When something looks wrong at 8am on a Tuesday, you phone a number and reach an engineer who knows your environment.
Honest advice
If you do not need a service, we will tell you. Our reputation in the region is worth more than any single contract.
Why local still matters in security
Most of what we do can be delivered remotely, and much of it is. But some work is simply better in person: walking a factory floor to understand why that Windows 7 machine cannot be patched, sitting with your IT provider to untangle a firewall rulebase, or being in the room during the first hour of an incident.
There is also accountability. We work in the same business community as our clients. We see them at the same events, supply into the same chains, and our reputation travels. That keeps the standard of work honest in a way that a distant call-centre contract never quite does.
Questions we are asked most often.
Do you only work with businesses in Sheffield?
No. Most of our clients are across South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, and we support organisations UK-wide. The advantage of being local is that when something needs someone on site — a penetration test, an incident, an audit — we can be there the same day rather than scheduling around travel.
What does a typical engagement cost for a Sheffield SME?
It depends on scope, but to anchor expectations: a vulnerability management service for a 100-300 device estate is typically a monthly fee in the low thousands, a penetration test is scoped per engagement, and Cyber Essentials support is usually a fixed piece of work. We will always give you a fixed proposal after an initial scoping call — no open-ended day rates.
We already have an IT support company. How does that work?
Very well, usually. We are not an IT support company and we do not want to be — we work alongside your existing provider, handing them prioritised, validated remediation actions and measuring closure. Most of our clients keep their IT support exactly as it is.
Can you help us win contracts that ask for Cyber Essentials or ISO 27001?
Yes — this is one of the most common reasons Sheffield firms come to us, particularly those supplying into manufacturing, legal and public sector chains. We run gap assessments, remediation programmes and audit preparation for both, and we are honest about timescales: CE is weeks, ISO 27001 is months, and anyone promising otherwise is selling you a certificate, not a programme.
Do you offer incident response if we get hit?
Yes. If you suspect an incident, call rather than email. For existing clients we provide agreed response arrangements; for new callers we will triage and stabilise first, then talk about ongoing work afterwards.
Talk to a consultant, not a salesperson
Tell us what you are trying to achieve — a certification, a client requirement, a nagging worry about your current setup — and we will tell you honestly what it takes.
Book a consultation