Based in Glasgow, Pure Pipeline, led by Managing Director Jon Carr, is a specialist business development and pipeline generation agency founded in October 2023. With over 25 years of experience across both agency and client sides, particularly within IT and technology sectors, Jon and the team bring a unique insight into building and delivering high-performing sales campaigns.

Pure Pipeline had already faced early signs of cyber threat exposure when a series of DDoS attacks targeted their website. Although these were dealt with swiftly, it prompted Managing Director Jon Carr to consult with NovaBytes to assess and improve their broader cyber security posture.

An email scan revealed a worrying number of malicious emails that had successfully reached staff inboxes, including highly targeted spear phishing attempts. One of the most serious findings was attackers impersonating Jon himself, using domain spoofing techniques to send emails that appeared to come directly from purepipeline.co.uk.

Further investigation showed that there was no backup system in place for business-critical data across OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams, or Entra ID profiles, leaving the business vulnerable to data loss. Additionally, Pure Pipeline had endpoint protection in place that may not have been able to defend against modern and emerging types of malware, ransomware, and unauthorised access. The company had already made efforts to implement mitigative controls but NovaBytes were able to provide a much more substantial solution and at a better price point.

It became clear that a multi-layered cyber security approach was needed to protect Pure Pipeline’s growing operation.

Following an in-depth consultation, NovaBytes designed and implemented a complete security solution tailored to Pure Pipeline’s needs.

The Barracuda Email Protection suite was deployed to protect the Microsoft 365 environment. Email Gateway Defence was configured with custom allow/block lists to filter out malicious communications, while Impersonation Protection was set up to learn the normal communication behaviour of employees and flag any suspicious activities. Domain Fraud Protection was also implemented by enforcing DMARC policies, preventing attackers from spoofing the company’s domain and internally impersonating Jon the MD.

Data protection was addressed by deploying Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup across OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams, Outlook, and Entra ID, ensuring that Pure Pipeline’s business-critical information is securely backed up to a secondary cloud location, mitigating the risks of accidental loss or ransomware attacks.

SentinelOne Endpoint Protection was rolled out across all staff devices. This advanced endpoint security solution provides AI-driven threat detection, real-time response, and ransomware rollback, meaning if a ransomware attack were ever to occur, affected devices can automatically revert to a safe state, removing the ransomware and restoring any encrypted files without downtime.

To enhance threat monitoring and response capabilities, NovaBytes also integrated Barracuda XDR. This service consolidates threat data from across Pure Pipeline’s Microsoft environment and endpoints, allowing for real-time detection and auto-remediation of security incidents, ensuring threats are contained and neutralised swiftly, often without human intervention.

With this multi-layered approach, Pure Pipeline now benefits from enterprise-grade cyber security that operates seamlessly in the background.

The combination of enhanced email protection, data backup, endpoint security, and XDR monitoring has transformed Pure Pipeline’s security posture. Jon Carr noted, “The level of protection we now have gives us complete peace of mind. We can stay focused on growing the business without worrying about hidden cyber threats lurking in the background.”

Thanks to NovaBytes’ solution, Pure Pipeline now operates with a robust cyber security framework, protecting their business, data, and reputation against the evolving landscape of cyber threats.