Building security foundations early to support sustainable growth
Industry
Defence Consultancy
Company Size
20 employees
Duration
6 months
Client Background
A young, fast-growing company recognised that getting cybersecurity right from the start would pay dividends later. With significant new business on the horizon and a geographically dispersed team across the UK and Europe - including in higher-risk regions - they wanted to embed sound security practices, processes, and culture before scaling further.
The leadership team adopted a mature philosophy: it’s far better to establish the right habits, systems, and awareness early, than to retrofit them under pressure later.
The Challenge
Like many early-stage businesses, the client’s resources were stretched. Their small internal team relied on a single part-time IT support person, juggling many responsibilities. Cybersecurity wasn’t their core business but rather was one of many priorities competing for time and attention.
Dalton Cyber’s role was to help them navigate the process without becoming another burden. That meant listening carefully, providing reassurance, and adapting our approach to suit their pace and priorities. At times, we played the role of friendly challenger, helping the client pause and think critically about decisions, balancing ambition with pragmatism.
Our Approach
We began with a simple principle: listen first. By understanding their goals, pressures, and existing setup, we could tailor recommendations that were realistic and sustainable.
Working collaboratively with their existing IT resource, we outlined a staged approach:
Understand the environment and goals.
Design collaboratively, ensuring alignment with business realities.
Implement sensibly, avoiding unnecessary complexity.
Support throughout, building confidence at every step.
We recommended Cyber Essentials Plus as a starting point, providing a practical baseline to anchor their cybersecurity journey. Our aim wasn’t to over-specify or over-engineer, but to create something that would last: processes and habits that could scale with the business.
The Outcome
The client successfully achieved Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus certification. The process took longer than usual, but that time was well spent embedding lasting improvements rather than rushing to meet an arbitrary deadline. By the end, the business had a stronger foundation for growth, better visibility of its cyber risks, and greater confidence in how to manage them.
Lessons Learned
- Embedding cybersecurity early saves time, money, and disruption later.
- Start with achievable, meaningful steps rather than aiming for perfection.
- Security works best when it’s built into the culture, not bolted on as an afterthought.
- A patient, collaborative approach builds long-term trust and resilience.
What the Client Said
> This is brilliant. Thank you. I’ve looked over the report. Some things will certainly need to be raised to a higher security level in our firm in the future, but I’m glad we managed to pass this first step.
If you’re a growing business looking to establish sound IT and security foundations, we can help. Start with a tailored IT health check or risk assessment to understand where you are and what’s most important to focus on next. Every client is unique to us, and we’ll build a pathway that suits your size, pace, and ambitions. Learn how this client continued their cybersecurity journey in the next case study, where they built on their Cyber Essentials foundation to strengthen people, process, and culture.