Know where you stand before your customer asks.

A security questionnaire or a certification audit will ask how your servers are run. The GUARD review answers that first: five areas, a score for each, and the fixes in order.

Sample GUARD report7 servers
  • G
    Gateway3 ports open, all expected. TLS renews itself.
    Green
  • U
    Updates2 servers 3 weeks behind on updates.
    Amber
  • A
    AccessShared root key. No MFA on the cloud console.
    Red
  • R
    RecoveryNightly, off-site. Never restored.
    Amber
  • D
    DetectionAlerts reach a person. Logs kept 90 days.
    Green
Fix first: retire the shared root key, then test a restore.

Five areas, a score for each

Each area is scored green, amber or red, with the evidence behind the score. More on the GUARD framework →

  1. 01
    G · Gateway

    What the internet can reach: open ports, firewalls, exposed services, certificates and SSH.

  2. 02
    U · Updates

    How far behind each server is, and which releases are near or past end of life.

    End-of-life tracker →
  3. 03
    A · Access

    Who can log in and how: keys, shared accounts, MFA, leavers who still have access.

  4. 04
    R · Recovery

    Whether backups run, where they go, and whether anyone has restored one.

  5. 05
    D · Detection

    Whether you'd notice a problem: monitoring, alerts, logs and how long they're kept.

A report you can act on

scoresGreen, amber or red

For each of the five areas, with the evidence behind each score.

fixesFixes in order

What to do first, what can wait, and roughly how long each takes.

answersQuestionnaire notes

How the findings map onto the infrastructure questions customers ask.

£250, fixed

One fixed price, agreed in writing before anything starts. You get the written report and a call to go through it.

"One of those rare suppliers who feels more like a trusted member of the team than someone on the other end of a ticket system."

Angus B. · Founder, UK SaaS company

"A reliable technical partner for ISARR over the last eight years. He supports both infrastructure and wider technical decision-making when we need senior input."

Nick Beale · ISARR

Questions

Is this a penetration test?

No. It's a review of how the servers are run: what's exposed, how up to date they are, who has access, whether backups restore, and whether you'd notice a problem. It finds the everyday gaps that questionnaires and auditors ask about. A pen test is a different job; I can arrange one through a specialist partner and fix what it finds.

Will it help with a security questionnaire?

Yes. The five areas map onto the infrastructure questions customers ask, and once the fixes are in, the answers are true.

Do you fix what you find?

If you want. The report lists fixes in order; I can do them as a project, or you can hand them to your own team.

What does it cost?

£250, fixed, agreed in writing before anything starts.

Got a questionnaire on your desk?

Send it over. I'll tell you which infrastructure questions you can answer today and which need work.