Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) represents an elegant convergence of network and security technologies as a single, end-to-end solution, perfectly suited to the modern distributed workforce and the increasingly dynamic nature of corporate networks. As a growing number of organisations are discovering, SASE has the potential to completely transform the way we design, deploy, manage, and scale corporate networks. Indeed, 60% of IT leaders are ready to fully embrace SASE by 2025*.
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As part of an ongoing effort to offer greater consistency and transparency across their full range of solutions, Microsoft have recently announced several pricing updates.
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Whatever sector you operate in and whatever your long-term business goals, your network is the foundation of your future success. With the distributed workforce now firmly established and customer interactions taking place over an evolving range of channels, business is now truly interconnected, with seamless, secure dataflows its lifeblood.
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In the contact centre, the customer journey is everything. Every potential point of interaction must be carefully considered, with systems and processes established to maximise the chances of a fast, satisfactory resolution.
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The UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has warned the IT helpdesks of retailers to be on their guard against bogus support calls they might receive from hackers pretending to be staff locked out of their accounts.
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Having returned from the BSA Conference 2025, it was clear that building societies are navigating a critical juncture - balancing their relationship-led service models while addressing the urgent need to modernise outdated systems and improve operational efficiency. Given the current geopolitical climate, and the increasing pace of innovation, developing a strategy that not only solves immediate challenges, but offers sufficient scope to tackle future issues, can often seem like a moving target.
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The Challenge
In Q3 of 2024, the CEO of a UK-based bank received an email from a ransomware group, informing him that the bank's data had been encrypted and would be released on the dark web unless a ransom demand was paid. Although several insurers and consultants were engaged to resolve the situation, the slow response times made it clear that an alternative approach would be needed.
Finally, in order to minimise the resulting downtime and resume operations as soon as possible, without giving in to the criminals' ransom demand, the organisation engaged Exponential-e to restore and secure their critical servers. With even the shortest period of downtime resulting in serious financial and reputational damage, a team of incident response specialists immediately began the restoration process, aiming to have the bank's systems back online in days rather than weeks.
The Solution
The restoration process began with a thorough audit of the IT ecosystem to establish which servers had been impacted, after which the affected VMs were powered down. A new, fully isolated VDC was created to store these VMs once they were recovered, along with a completely new firewall zone.
With the affected servers restored into this new VDC zone, firewalls were established to allow for the most basic access, after which malware scans were conducted. These scans continued for two days, during which the customer was granted initial access to the servers via a temporary SSL VPN with Azure MFA, allowing them to resume operations in just three days.
At this point, Zerto replication was set up for the new VMs, while Exponential-e simultaneously engaged with the third party that was conducting a forensic investigation.
Connectivity was soon re-established for the customer's other offices, at which point users were brought back online. Firewall logs were provided for the forensic team, along with initial access to VM images via vCloud Director.
Finally, a test rebuild of the affected VMs was conducted and finalised within two days, and additional firewall policies established.
Exponential-e has repeated variations of this process for multiple other organisations affected by ransomware attacks, allowing them to resume operations as quickly as possible and ensure their critical infrastructure is secured against future attacks.
The Result
Ongoing communication between all parties involved ,including a dedicated team of incident response specialists at Exponential-e with a defined action plan ensured a seamless restoration process. Day-to-day operations resumed in just seven days, without paying the criminals' ransom demand.
Don't wait for a crisis to expose the cracks, fortify your defences today. Discover how expert response turned seven days of chaos into operational recovery.
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About the Networked Fire Services Partnership (NFSP)
The Network Fire Services Partnership (NFSP) works to drive closer collaboration between fire & rescue services across Devon and Somerset, Dorset & Wiltshire, Hampshire & IOW, and Kent, operating out of four control rooms to maximise the effectiveness and availability of critical services across these regions.
The Challenge
With fire and emergency services, any downtime could cost lives, which means the quality of our underlying network and– in turn – the performance and availability of key platforms are top priorities for us.
Neil McKeever, NFSP Technical Lead
The NFSP utilises a Control and Dispatch (CAD) system to interlink its four control rooms, ensuring seamless, secure flows of data in order to maximise ease of communication and, in turn, deployment times. This system is constantly evolving to better serve citizens across the country and – ultimately – save lives.
In order to optimise the performance of the newest iteration of the CAD platform, a decision was made to split off the NFSP's underling network, utilising the existing network for day-to-day operations, while deploying a new, fully dedicated network for CAD applications.
Following a competitive tender process, the Exponential-e Group's 20-year pedigree in the design and delivery of critical infrastructure,
their experts' personal experience within a range of emergency services, and the inherent resilience of their self-owned, enterprise-class network made them a clear standout, and so they were selected as the NFSP's new networking partner, providing RO2 connectivity between the NFSP's control rooms, back-up control rooms, and the NEC data centres in which the new iteration of their CAD platform would be hosted.
Exponential-e's specialists immediately began working closely with the NFSP's own teams to establish the new network specifications and plan for a successful rollout of the new platform, while also preparing for the impending launch of the new Emergency Services Network (ESN).
The Solution
Thanks to Exponential-e's continued support, we're now in a good position for the upcoming launch of the ESN, which will open the door to further enhancements in the future.
Neil McKeever, NFSP Technical Lead
It was decided that the existing network would remain in place throughout the deployment of the new one, with the current CAD platform continuing to run on it. This would not only ensure any downtime could be completely avoided – an absolute necessity for a project of this nature – but also allow for a more intelligent, phased deployment process for the new platform, with ample scope to sandboxing, testing, and in-built redundancy until it was ready for a full-scale deployment, with the legacy platform phased out completely.
A dedicated account team took full responsibility for the design and the delivery of this new network, working with existing infrastructure where appropriate, and deploying completely new fibre where it was required. The project plan was designed so the NFSP could begin making use of individual connections as soon as they became available, in parallel with ongoing testing and deployment processes, ensuring the desired benefits could be realised as soon as possible.
This involved the most rigorous standards of performance and availability, in order to support real-time communications between the NFSP's control rooms, their colleagues, and all citizens who would need to make contact for any reason. Exponential-e's role in the Government's ESN project is critical here, ensuring the NFSP will be able to begin making use of this UK-wide network's capabilities as soon as it launches, further enhancing communication, collaboration, and responsiveness for frontline emergency service workers across the country.
Exponential-e are set to continue working with the NFSP in the years ahead, ensuring the underlying network continues to support the seamless delivery of fire and emergency services, maximising the number of lives saved.
Solution Benefits
- Highly resilient, highly secure R02 connectivity between four control rooms, their back-ups, and NEC data environments, optimising the performance and availability of a key control and command platform
- Hands-on consultation and support from a dedicated team of networking experts with years of hands-on experience across the emergency services
- A phased deployment process, managed by a dedicated account team, minimising operational disruption and maximising time-to-value
- Hands-on support from the only privately-owned British company involved in the UK Government's ESN project
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