Security we learned by doing, offered to the businesses that need it most

Where this came from

Phlo Systems builds software for trade, finance and customs, handling sensitive data for real customers. As we grew, our own clients started asking the questions every serious buyer now asks: How do you protect our data? Are you ISO 27001 certified? Can we see your security policies?

We had two choices: treat security as a checkbox, or do it properly. We chose properly. We committed to ISO 27001:2022, brought in a specialist implementation partner, and built a complete Information Security Management System from the ground up, covering access control, business continuity, device and physical security, secure development and more. We trained every single person in the company. We passed our Stage 1 external audit, and we're implementing controls toward full certification.

Along the way, we handled the real thing. When a genuine security event hit one of our machines, we didn't panic, we executed: detected it, contained it, rotated every credential, and shipped a stronger control the same day. That's the difference between reading about security and living it.

Why we're offering it to others

Going through all of this, one thing became obvious. The demands placed on small businesses are now the same as those placed on large ones, ISO 27001, SOC 2, cyber insurance, client questionnaires, ransomware resilience, but the resources are not. A full-time security hire is out of reach for most SMBs, and going without is increasingly not an option.

We'd already built the playbooks, the policies, the training and the muscle memory. Sharing that with other small businesses, so they don't have to learn it the hard way or pay enterprise prices, is simply the right use of what we've built. Harshini Naidu, who led our own programme, leads Phlo Secure.

How we keep it affordable

Two things make enterprise-grade security work at a small-business price. The first is AI: we use it to do the continuous, repetitive work, monitoring configuration, spotting drift, drafting policy, assembling audit evidence, so our experts spend their time on judgement, not busywork. The second is partnership: we work with a network of vetted security product companies, so you get the same tooling a large enterprise runs, delivered and managed for you, without a procurement project. One security team, serving many clients well.