Managed Cybersecurity Services for UK Businesses
AMVIA's managed cybersecurity services protect UK businesses from threats — combining endpoint detection, email security, managed SOC, firewalls, and Cyber Essentials certification support into a single, managed programme.
AMVIA's managed cybersecurity services protect UK businesses from ransomware, phishing, and data breaches — without the cost of an in-house security team. Services include 24/7 SOC monitoring, managed EDR, email security, and Cyber Essentials certification support. Over 1,200 UK businesses trust AMVIA to manage their cybersecurity posture on a fixed monthly subscription.
What Are Managed Cybersecurity Services?
Managed cybersecurity services are security functions delivered by an external provider — handling the ongoing monitoring, management, and response activities that most businesses do not have the in-house capability to run effectively. Rather than employing a full security team, businesses subscribe to a managed service that provides equivalent capability at a fraction of the cost. For UK SMEs, this typically includes managed endpoint detection and response (EDR), email security, firewall management, security awareness training, and access to a Security Operations Centre (SOC) for threat monitoring and incident response.
AMVIA's Cybersecurity Service Portfolio
End-to-end managed security services — from Cyber Essentials certification to 24/7 SOC coverage.
24/7 Security Operations Centre
Continuous monitoring of your environment by our certified SOC analysts. Threats identified, triaged, and contained — with full incident documentation and customer notification.
Managed EDR (Endpoint Detection & Response)
AI-powered endpoint protection on every device, managed and monitored by our SOC team. Threats contained within minutes, not hours — using Microsoft Defender and Huntress EDR.
Email Security & Anti-Phishing
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 blocks phishing, business email compromise, and malware attachments. DMARC, DKIM, and SPF configured and monitored for all domains.
Firewall Management
Next-generation firewalls managed by AMVIA — including rule reviews, firmware updates, and traffic analysis. Fortinet and Cisco Meraki platforms supported.
Cyber Essentials & CE+ Certification
Gap assessment, technical remediation, and certification audit support. Most clients achieve Cyber Essentials Plus within four weeks of engagement.
Security Awareness Training
Monthly phishing simulations and bite-sized e-learning modules. Measurable improvement in staff click rates, reported quarterly.
Cyber Essentials Compliance Checklist
The UK Government's five Cyber Essentials controls — the minimum baseline for any business wanting to protect against common attacks.
Boundary firewalls configured
All internet-facing services behind a properly configured firewall with default-deny rules and documented change management.
Secure configuration applied
Default passwords changed, unnecessary software removed, and auto-lock enabled on all in-scope devices.
Access control implemented
User accounts have minimum necessary privileges. Admin accounts are separate from day-to-day accounts.
Malware protection active
EDR or antivirus active and up to date on all in-scope devices, with real-time scanning enabled.
Patch management current
Operating systems and applications patched within 14 days of critical patch release. Unsupported software removed.
MFA enforced for cloud services
Multi-factor authentication enforced for all cloud services and remote access, including Microsoft 365 and VPN.
Why UK SMEs Need Managed Cybersecurity
The UK Government's Cyber Security Breaches Survey consistently shows that smaller businesses are targeted as frequently as larger ones — but lack the security resources to detect and respond effectively. Attackers exploit this asymmetry deliberately: phishing campaigns, credential stuffing, and ransomware attacks are largely automated and do not discriminate by company size.
47% rise in attacks evading Microsoft's native defences and secure email gateways (SEGs) — KnowBe4 2025 Phishing Benchmark Report. (Microsoft)
Stolen or compromised credentials were the initial attack vector in 22% of data breaches in 2024 — the single largest cause of breaches, surpassing phishing (16%) and software vulnerabilities (Verizon DBIR 2025). (ITPro)
Security Management is the fastest-growing MDM segment, driven by mobile ransomware and phishing threats (Yahoo Finance MDM report, 2025). (Uk)
The consequence is that UK SMEs face the same threat landscape as enterprise organisations, but typically have no dedicated security staff, limited budget for security tools, and no process for responding to incidents when they occur. Managed cybersecurity services address this gap by providing enterprise-grade capabilities at SME-appropriate pricing.
AMVIA's Security Stack
AMVIA's managed cybersecurity service is built on Microsoft's security platform — specifically Microsoft 365 Business Premium and the Defender family of products — augmented with third-party tools where Microsoft alone does not provide sufficient coverage.
The core stack includes: Microsoft Defender for Business for endpoint protection; Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Plan 2 for email security; Microsoft Entra ID with Conditional Access for identity and access management; Microsoft Intune for device management; and Huntress EDR for managed detection and response. For organisations requiring a full Security Operations Centre, we add Microsoft Sentinel as the SIEM platform, monitored 24/7 by our certified analysts.
Cyber Essentials and CE+ Certification
Cyber Essentials is the UK Government's baseline cybersecurity certification scheme, covering five technical controls: firewalls, secure configuration, access control, malware protection, and patch management. It is self-assessed at the base level and independently audited for Cyber Essentials Plus (CE+).
AMVIA prepares businesses for both certification levels. Our approach starts with a gap assessment against the current Cyber Essentials question set, followed by technical remediation of any gaps, and then the certification process itself. Most clients achieve certification within four weeks. We offer this as a fixed-price service — no hourly rates or open-ended engagements.
CE+ is increasingly required for government contract frameworks, NHS supply chains, defence sector suppliers, and enterprise procurement processes. It is also valued by professional indemnity insurers as evidence of security diligence.
24/7 Security Operations Centre
AMVIA's SOC provides continuous monitoring of client environments using Microsoft Sentinel as the SIEM platform. Our analysts work across shifts to provide genuine 24/7 coverage — not an automated alerting system that pages an on-call engineer at 3am.
The SOC triages alerts, investigates anomalies, and contains threats — with a documented escalation process for incidents requiring customer involvement. All SOC activity is logged and reportable, providing the audit trail that regulated industries require for compliance reporting.
For businesses not requiring full SOC coverage, AMVIA's managed EDR service provides endpoint-level protection with analyst-led threat hunting and response during business hours — a cost-effective step up from unmanaged antivirus.
Email Security and Business Email Compromise
Email remains the primary attack vector for UK businesses. Phishing, spear-phishing, and business email compromise (BEC) collectively account for the majority of successful cyber attacks. AMVIA's email security service addresses this through multiple layers: Microsoft Defender for Office 365 for attachment and URL scanning; anti-impersonation policies protecting against display name spoofing; DMARC, DKIM, and SPF configuration to prevent email domain spoofing; and user awareness training to improve staff recognition of suspicious messages.
Business email compromise deserves particular attention. BEC attacks typically involve compromising a legitimate email account — often through credential phishing — and then using that account to redirect payments, request sensitive data, or fraudulently instruct suppliers. The financial impact of BEC can be immediate and difficult to recover. MFA enforcement and Conditional Access policies are the most effective technical controls against BEC.
Identity and Access Management
The majority of successful cyber attacks involve compromised credentials at some stage. An attacker who obtains a user's password can access cloud services, move laterally within your environment, and exfiltrate data — all while appearing to be a legitimate user. Microsoft Entra ID, combined with Conditional Access policies and MFA, addresses this by requiring additional verification beyond a password for all cloud service access.
AMVIA configures Conditional Access policies as part of all managed Microsoft 365 deployments. At minimum, we enforce MFA for all users, block legacy authentication protocols, and require compliant devices for access to sensitive applications. For organisations with higher risk profiles, we add risk-based sign-in policies, privileged identity management, and continuous access evaluation.
Backup, Recovery, and Ransomware Resilience
Ransomware attacks encrypt business data and demand payment for the decryption key. The most effective defence against ransomware is not prevention alone — it is having a tested, immutable backup that allows you to restore operations without paying. AMVIA's managed backup service uses cloud-based immutable storage, ensuring that ransomware cannot encrypt or delete backup copies.
Recovery time matters as much as backup success. AMVIA tests recovery procedures quarterly for managed clients, validating that the documented recovery time objective (RTO) can actually be met. Many businesses discover backup failures only when they attempt to restore — by which point the damage is done.
Frequently Asked Questions — Cybersecurity Services
Managed EDR focuses on endpoint-level threat detection and response — protecting individual devices from malware, ransomware, and advanced threats. A SOC service provides broader, environment-level monitoring using a SIEM platform that aggregates signals from endpoints, email, identity, and network — enabling detection of threats that do not trigger endpoint alerts alone. For most SMEs, managed EDR is the right starting point. Businesses in regulated industries or with higher risk profiles benefit from adding SOC coverage.
For most businesses, AMVIA can deploy the core security stack — MFA, Conditional Access, managed EDR, email security, and backup — within one to two weeks. Cyber Essentials Plus certification typically follows within four weeks. Full SOC onboarding takes three to four weeks to complete data source integration, alert tuning, and playbook configuration. We prioritise quick wins — the controls that have the highest impact on your risk profile — before moving to longer-term improvements.
Microsoft 365 Business Basic and Standard include foundational security features, but they are not configured or actively managed by default. To realise their security value, Conditional Access policies must be configured, MFA must be enforced, email security policies must be tuned, and someone must monitor and respond to alerts. Microsoft 365 Business Premium includes stronger security tools including Defender for Business, but these still require expert configuration and ongoing management. AMVIA manages the full M365 security stack as part of our managed IT and cybersecurity services.
Cyber insurance covers financial losses after an incident — it does not prevent the incident from occurring or reduce its severity. Insurers increasingly require evidence of security controls (including Cyber Essentials certification) as a condition of cover, and may reduce or deny claims where basic controls were absent. Managed security reduces the likelihood of a claim, keeps premiums lower, and ensures you can actually meet insurer requirements. The two are complementary, not alternatives.
Our SOC monitors for a range of threat indicators using Microsoft Sentinel's detection rules and custom playbooks. Key detection categories include: impossible travel (logins from geographically distant locations in a short time window), mass file encryption or deletion (ransomware indicators), bulk email forwarding rules (BEC indicators), privilege escalation attempts, lateral movement within the network, and data exfiltration patterns. Alerts are triaged by analysts who distinguish genuine threats from false positives before escalating to customers.
Get Your Free Cybersecurity Assessment
AMVIA's certified security engineers will review your current controls, identify critical gaps, and provide a prioritised remediation roadmap — at no cost.
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