How are security teams preparing for AI-driven attacks?
Since ChatGPT's launch in late 2022, the world has seen a 4,151% increase in malicious phishing emails sent. That’s a lot of dodgy emails (and a lot more potential victims).
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Map the terrain of your security situation
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Turn insights into improvements
Receive supportive, practical recommendations tailored to your environment, sector and risk profile. -
Validate your security choices
Whether you're using internal teams or external providers, we’ll confirm whether you meet benchmark security expectations, or not. -
Stay ahead of the security curve
We audit against the latest threat intelligence whilst analysing sector-specific threats and custom security posture improvement areas. -
Build your business case with evidence
Transform security performance data into compelling board-level presentations that demonstrate value and justify future investment. -
Independent validation you can trust
Our impartial cybersecurity risk assessment eliminates confirmation bias and knowledge gaps that you might not know about. -
Benchmark against gold standards
We use the NCSC Cyber Assessment Framework for benchmarking your security against industry-leading standards.
Features
Expert analysis, actionable intelligence
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Holistic technical insight
Our Flare service combines technical depth with strategic clarity. We leave no risk unchecked in this thorough security assessment.
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Risk-focused analysis
Beyond identifying gaps, we assess the real-world risk each finding poses to your business operations and objectives.
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Clear framework benchmarking
Your security environment is mapped against NCSC CAF standards, with colour-coded scoring for instant clarity.
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Dual-format reporting
Technical teams get detailed analysis and remediation steps. Leadership gets clear, business-focused summaries perfect for board presentation.
Why Flare
A fresh viewpoint to understand your security
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Eliminate blind spots and bias
Even the best teams develop knowledge gaps. Our third-party security audit brings current threat intelligence and an outsider's perspective to spot vulnerabilities that routine familiarity can obscure.
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Validate investment and performance
Give your internal or external security teams the independent validation they deserve. We confirm what's working well and identify where additional support or resources could strengthen your defences.
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Build evidence-based business cases
Transform technical findings into compelling board presentations. Our cyber resilience assessment provides the concrete evidence you need to justify security spending and demonstrate value.
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Stay current without the overhead
Tracking every security development is impossible for busy teams. We bring the latest cyber intelligence directly to you, showing exactly how to apply it in your environment.
FAQs
Common questions about our Flare service
What specific areas does the Flare assessment examine?
Our comprehensive assessment covers four major security domains. For example, we review your identity and access management to ensure proper user lifecycle processes and privileged access controls. We examine your vulnerability management to check if weaknesses are being identified and fixed promptly. We assess your SIEM configuration to ensure it’s effectively detecting threats. We also evaluate endpoint security, email protection, network monitoring, and cloud security controls. Each area receives detailed attention to build a complete picture of your security posture.
Is this audit designed to catch out our current team or provider?
No. This is a collaborative assessment conducted with full knowledge of your current team. We’re here to support and validate, not to undermine.
How long does Flare take?
Audit duration depends on your environment size. Small organisations (under 300 endpoints) typically complete in 5 days. Larger enterprises may need 10-12 days.
Will you assess whether we're overpaying for security?
We don’t evaluate pricing or commercial arrangements. Our focus is purely on security effectiveness and whether your solution meets your business needs.
What's the difference between CIS and NCSC CAF benchmarking?
Both are industry gold standards. NCSC CAF is the UK government’s framework for critical infrastructure. CIS provides internationally recognised security controls. We focus our audit around the CAF benchmark, but where appropriate, we can include some assessment of public cloud configuration using CIS controls.
What access do you need?
We only need read-only access to security-relevant systems. We’ll provide a detailed list during scoping, tailored to your environment.
How does Flare help businesses with internal security teams versus those using external providers?
For internal teams, we validate their hard work, identify knowledge gaps that naturally develop, and help bridge IT and business priorities. For those using external providers, we independently verify you’re getting the protection you need and eliminate unknowns about your security coverage. In both cases, we provide impartial assessment without questioning commercial arrangements or undermining existing relationships.
What happens after the audit?
After the audit, you’re free to implement changes as you wish. You could also engage us for ongoing support; we can help you implement the recommendations through our other services.
Take action on your security with our other services
Resources
Blog 
Making sense of the NCSC CAF Framework: and why it deserves a seat at your board table
IT directors and CISOs face a persistent challenge: translating complex security requirements into language that speaks to board-level decision makers.
Legacy systems: staying secure when replacement isn’t an option
Your legacy systems can be a major security challenge, certainly. But they’re not the insurmountable problem they're often made out to be.