Digital marketing specialist awarded government-backed accreditation

The UK consultancy, based in Edinburgh and London, is one of only a handful of digital marketing companies and firms headquartered in Scotland to secure both the Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus accreditations, a scheme launched by the government’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in 2014 to help businesses safeguard against the most common cyber threats such as hacking, phishing and password breaches.

In May 2018, QueryClick past a series of rigorous audits of its IT infrastructure, applications and data management systems by cyber security specialists to meet the criteria of the scheme. The accreditation comes at a time when the threat of a cyber-attack is at an all-time high, according to a recent study[1] the number of breaches has grown on average by 27.4% year-on-year, and they have been reported to cost one in 10 UK businesses ?1million[2] in 2017.

Chris Liversidge, Managing Director, QueryClick, said:

“Securing the accreditation is testament to how seriously we take cyber security at QueryClick. As an independent, we operate on a foundation of trust and transparency, and by taking government-approved steps to protect our business from the threat of a security breach, we can act as a safe harbour for our clients and their sensitive information.

“High profile data breaches have tarnished the reputation of major brands in the past, but with the deadline for GDPR compliance fast-approaching and potential fines looming, the consequences of an attack could be far worse. During this time of increased scrutiny, marketers will need to rely on specialists who can proactively safeguard their data and prevent it from becoming compromised, allowing them to protect their brand value.