Crossword Cybersecurity Consulting Division Helps Digital Healthcare Start-up Vital Signs Solutions Achieve Cyber Essentials Plus

16 March 2021 – London, UK – Crossword Cybersecurity Plc (AIM:CCS, “Crossword”, the “Company” or the “Group”), the technology commercialisation company focused on cyber security and risk management, is today announcing that its consulting division has helped Vital Signs Solutions, an early-stage, digital healthcare company, achieve the stringent standards of the UK Government’s Cyber Essentials Plus certification, giving confidence to its patients, partners and regulators over its data security processes and protection of sensitive patient data.

Vital Signs Solutions’ PocDoc® digital platform, was borne out of a vision of allowing anyone with a smartphone or tablet to test themselves for a range of major diseases and conditions. The end-to-end platform facilitates testing for health conditions via a fingerprick, and provides users with a full health assessment in minutes, offering solutions to address any health-related issues that arise. Most recently the PocDoc platform has been providing an end-to-end Covid-19 rapid testing solution for workplaces across the UK, allowing employers to enable a workforce to return to work in a Covid-safe way.

As a rapidly growing digital healthcare company with technology that has been highlighted by the NHS Digital Accelerator, operated by DigitalHealth.London as “HealthTech set to transform the NHS”, a strong cyber security stance and the protection of patient data has always been of critical importance to Vital Signs Solutions. Working with the Crossword Consulting Team, a full review of every aspect of security processes and technology was undertaken to ensure the protection of data from the point of entry for its whole life, as well as ensure the resilience of the platform against cyber attacks.

Steve Roest, CEO & Co-founder of Vital Signs Solutions, said: “As a digital healthcare business, being responsible for patient data is fundamental to everything we do. The PocDoc platform is growing rapidly and Cyber Essentials Plus, with its need for a hands-on technical verification, rather than simple self-certification, ensures a strong security posture and foundation for growth that focuses on the trust placed in us by patients with their data.”

Working closely with the board and technical teams at Vital Signs Solutions, Crossword was able to make a full assessment of internal networks and processes, before recommending and implementing where needed in the five key areas covered by Cyber Essentials Plus: Firewalls and Internet Gateways, Security Configuration, Access Control, Malware Protection and Patch Management. These improvements were then independently tested before certification was awarded. The success of project has been instrumental in helping Vital Signs Solutions scale as part of the NHS Digital Accelerator, which supports the uptake and spread of proven, impactful innovations across England’s NHS.

Steve Roest, continued: “Our business is very fast moving and is developing rapidly. The work of the Crossword team has allowed us to implement stringent security measures and achieve certification in a way that doesn’t introduce friction into the business and our processes, that slow us down or make us less agile. The work we have undertaken will be critical to our success in scaling out our PocDoc platform across multiple diseases in the UK and beyond.”

Chris Wilkinson, Associate Director, Consulting at Crossword Cybersecurity PLC, added: “Digital health is an exciting high growth area, where extremely sensitive data is in the care of companies that are growing extremely fast. Cyber security is critically important and done well is not a drain on a company’s financial and other resources. Our advice is to get started early with schemes such as Cyber Essentials Plus and other accreditations. Not only do they protect your business and the data under your stewardship, but they also open opportunities.”