How We Keep Your Information Secure

As the world of work has shifted to rely heavily on technology, the threat of cyber-attacks and hacks is becoming more and more prominent. Around the world, 2,200 people are cyber-attacked every day, equating to over 800,000 attacks per year. The significance of this is quite often understated. More than £2.3 billion was lost in 2020-21 to scammers and hackers. So everyone must do what they can to ensure they aren't getting caught out.

Why does this matter to us?

Because Ventro works in occupied buildings, we are often given confidential information about our clients' residents. Obviously, this data is extremely sensitive. We already ensure that all data is stored in our encrypted servers, with only specific individuals at Ventro having access to the information. If you are unsure what encryption means and why it's important, in simple terms, it means using systems and code to protect users and prevent unauthorised access. There are many articles and resources which give further in-depth analysis about encryption if you want to research the topic even more.

What else can we do to protect our data?

Despite the steps we have taken so far to protect our data, we wanted to ensure that it wasn't just big words and nothing to back it up. The next step was to prove that we genuinely keep our customers' information safe. This is why we took the necessary measures to acquire the Cyber Essentials accreditation. If you would like to do more research into the Cyber Essentials accreditation, click here.

What this means going forward

Cyber Essentials give you the peace of mind that Ventro takes the necessary steps to keep your information secure. It guarantees that your information will be stored and kept safe when we are handling it. As highlighted earlier, everyone is at risk of cyber-attacks, but there are steps that we can all take to ensure the data is stored correctly and kept safe. Our ongoing commitment to assuring our customers that we are serious about 3rd party accreditations. We aren't just saying we are doing it correctly; we have the accreditations to prove it.

Why accreditations are important

As described above, 3rd party certifications assure you that our services are regularly tested to a high level of quality. But there is more that can be done. The fire safety industry is going through massive change, not just in terms of legislation, but the industry's culture is changing too. Several charters are growing in their influence and helping with that culture change. The Building A Safer Future (BSF) Charter is one of the most recognised charters in the industry, setting a benchmark for companies to aim for in terms of proving competency. As a registered signatory of the BSF, Ventro hopes to continue using the BSF's guidance and expertise in how we can shape the industry and share best practice going forward. 

Proving Competency

One of the critical aspects of the Building Safety Bill is about ensuring competency throughout the industry. Competency is never an easy thing to prove. Some think it is solely about having the knowledge, others believe it is about having the qualifications. A few even consider competency to be proven by behaviour. It is, in fact, all three elements that determine competency. Dame Judith Hackitt recently stressed that competency shouldn't be just about having qualifications or a lot of experience; it should be about having a combination of all the three elements listed above. 

This is why Ventro have the certifications and 3rd party accreditations, knowledge of both active and passive services and over 30 years industry experience, and behaviour (part of the BSF and actively share knowledge through our events). 

We are always looking to prove our competency and hope to share best practise and our expertise for years to come.

Cyber Essentials is an effective, Government backed scheme that will help you to protect your organisation, whatever its size, against a whole range of the most common cyber attacks. Ventro Ltd holds the certification Cyber Essentials which is the self-assessment option, providing protection against a wide variety of the most common cyber attacks. This is important because vulnerablility to basic attacks can mark you out as target for more in-depth unwanted attention from cyber criminals and others.