27/01/2026
Celebrating Our 10th Birthday!
..and discussing plans to 2036; Pentest Cyber Ltd & you...
Well that went quick! We have completed hundreds of pentests, thousands of Cyber Essentials certifications and been through two large restructurings - thank you all for your support.
We look forward to supporting our old and new "friends" with the same high quality low-stress services, keeping cyber irritations to a minimum as we pilot the future together.
We're not going anywhere and are laying further foundations to evolve and succeed.
As a 10th birthday present, we have allowed founder Karl Greenfield a brief, constrained opportunity to talk uninterrupted while we pretend to listen to his thoughts on changes since he started in the industry in the vibrant Wales and South West of the 1980s.
Newspaper - second picture - far left - he doesn't look like that anymore!
Karl Greenfield:
"40 years ago many things were similar to now. It is just that over time, forms, vectors & methods of attack on our money, systems and technology have changed.
Back then, our Newport to USA analogue link allowing โalmost real-timeโ interaction with our American friends was extremely rare and expensive.
Now even a ยฃ10 โsmartโ(!) watch (or spoon!) is available, โfreelyโ; to a global audience.
1986 printed paper cheques had to be physically stolen and the inked content added to or amended. In 2026 they are intercepted, amended and cashed; all in their digital form.
Dumped stolen computers were collected from a Chepstow roundabout. Now they are โstolenโ in situ on the desk, and โretrievedโ by reformatting (of ransomware).
Security included โreel-to-reelโ tape backups. These were kept locked in firesafes using 12โ keys that sported a kinky leather fob to protect the โbusiness endsโ.
Engineering systems access meant โplug in a dongleโ that may just switch a pin or two on a serial or parallel port, accounting system full access meant typing โletmeinโ.
Today we still use all these, (YES - the largest backups ARE still TO TAPE).
Our early networks used the live 240V electrical circuit cables (โH&Sโ?), & our minicomputers โtwinaxโ. Now standardised copper. fiber & wireless serve all needs.
Like todayโs datcentres, our mainframe & minicomputers were kept in environmentally controlled areas and locked โout of harmโs reachโ.
The Supervisory Console & high speed cheque printers for the IBM Minicomputer were in an ante-room only accessible to seasoned computer professional keyholders.
1980s executivesโ were dangerously keen for โnew techโ. Computer mice had been observed being spoken into like โCB microphonesโ, then run along computer monitors in the hope that tech magic would ensue.
Fresh from watching 1983 film โWarGamesโ; โhaving a bash on the mainframeโ for these people in shiny suits capable of "solar flare" levels of static discharge was NOT to be allowed.
Forgetting to โparkโ PC hard disks at the end of a working day could result in a repair bill equivalent to โยฃ10Kโ in todayโs money. Dropping the lid of a System 36 or instructing โPOWER_OFFโ for โfunโ could have career-ending consequences. Opening of PC cases brought forth a small avalanche of cigarette butts, paperclips and 5 1/4" floppy disks somehow forced through the tiny gaps between disk drives.
The access controls, firewalls, and the many digital forms of "locked rooms, drawers and keys" in use today are evidence that all of these, in their evolved forms; still prevail.
Back then, you made the rules up yourselves, sometimes with reference to the vast tomes of shelved books (like the System 36 User Manuals or the Cisco Command Reference Books) but today best-practice methods of deploying defences exist as frameworks of guidance such as the โCyber Essentialsโ programme.
Deployed defences of today are then best tested via professional-level pe*******on testing.
Pentest Cyber decided through demand to specialize primarily in providing these two services at maximum time efficiency, minimal stress and clear reports proving quality defences.
Recently we added "Cyber 101" to bridge the gap between "nothing and Cyber Essentials"
2026 still requires humans to oversee, arbitrate and test controls and defences.
This is also the case for the boundaries and products of Artificial Intelligence in its many forms.
Hello!? - Is anyone still there?"
Thank you Karl! WATCH THIS SPACE FOR FUTURE ANNOUNCEMENTS
