One of the things we have always taken seriously is our customers’ security and privacy. Neither are particularly “sexy” or “exciting” topics, but they’re vital. They’ve always been important, but over the past couple of years more and more of the mainstream media are talking about security and privacy – and rightly so.
As you probably know, Blacknight runs its own data centre here at our HQ in Carlow, Ireland. We also have space in data centres in Dublin. Unlike many of our competitors (both large and small) we run our own network and employ a highly skilled team of network admins. Over the last few months most of our management team, but our technical manager in particular, have been working on getting us prepared for ISO 27001 certification. We’re delighted that we now have it.
So what does it mean?
For our small business customers it means that you have yet another reason to feel confident in your choice of hosting partner.
For our bigger clients – this is something many of you have asked us about, so we’re happy to now provide it for your peace of mind.
Here’s the release we sent out earlier today which tries to explain what ISO 27001 means for us and our clients:
February 18, 2016 – Carlow, Ireland – Blacknight has been awarded certification for ISO 27001, the strictest international standard available in information security management.
ISO 27001 certification isn’t just a fancy framed letter to hang on the office wall, it means that Blacknight has met every possible international standard for protecting their customer’s data online. Not only is Blacknight’s infrastructure secure, a customer’s information, email and records are also protected at the highest standard possible.
Over the last few years more and more companies have come to rely on hosting providers for functions that they previously managed “in house”.
As a result, service providers such as the 100% Irish owned Blacknight have been steadily raising the bar on the level of security they can provide for their customers.
Blacknight CEO Michele Neylon explains: “Blacknight has invested heavily in all aspects of our business. By getting ISO certification we are reinforcing our commitment to offering high quality technical services to our clients. We have always had a good reputation with respect to our security and handling of our clients digital assets, and the ISO also covers a lot of our processes and shows that we are following strict procedures around change management.”
Blacknight’s ISO certification will be particularly attractive to their larger, enterprise clients for whom corporate security is absolutely imperative.
However, this doesn’t just affect big companies, all of Blacknight’s customers, regardless of whether they are an SME or an individual with a blog will benefit from the most secure environment possible. Not every hosting provider can say the same.
“The problem with hosting is that it’s very easy for anyone to start a “hosting company” – a lot of the guarantees that companies provide are meaningless,” explains Blacknight CTO Paul Kelly. “We have been steadily building Blacknight to be as self sufficient as possible, such as when we opened our on-site data centre in Carlow in 2014. We stand firmly behind everything we say and this ISO certification is one of the ways that a company such as ourselves can continue to show that we are serious about our customers privacy and security.”
Blacknight received ISO 27001 certification following multiple audits that lasted several months from October 2015 through January 2016. The certification was awarded in January 2016 and covers the entire Carlow operation, including the Blacknight data center. The certification covers physical and environmental security, prevents unauthorised access, theft, compromise, damage to information and computing facilities.
For more information about Blacknight’s suite of secure services, please visit www.blacknight.com