TECHNOLOGY
2020:
THE YEAR OF BUSINESS
TRANSFORMATION Platinum is delighted to announce our new resident tech expert, Scott Nursten, who will be writing a ‘plain English’ IT column throughout 2021. With IT having become such an enormously important subject thanks to covid, Scott will sort the wheat from the chaff to assist you in getting ahead of the curve and staying safe. We sat down with Scott to fully understand his company, ITHQ.
When ITHQ launched in January of this year, a global pandemic was not part of the plan. While challenges have been plenty, cyber, cloud, digital working and data solutions are now in greater demand than ever before. A new normal requires a new way of looking at IT. Enter ITHQ.
}Tell us about your tech background and how you started in business As soon as I got my hands on a computer, I was hooked. I left high school at 15 and became a systems admin for Data Control & Systems, the first Internet Service Provider in Zimbabwe. It was my uncle’s business. When he sold it in 2000, I used my earnings to come to the UK and launch S2S. My brother and I grew this business – a Cisco Gold Partner, also in Crawley – until 2007, when we sold it to NG Bailey.
❛❛ Do you have a ransomware budget, then?’ Because you’re going to need one ❜❜
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}You have particular skills in cyber security. How did that interest first get sparked? I learned how to code when I was 13 and then, as greenhorn techies do, I dabbled in hacking. Nothing serious; I did wangle some free phone calls courtesy of a well-known insurance company before I was caught. Thankfully, I found the business of keeping hackers out far more interesting and if you want to keep your network secure from hackers, employ a reformed hacker. Over the years I’ve accumulated some of the most senior certifications in security including my CISSP, which is equivalent to a master’s degree. Working with cutting edge partners means we learn continually about the latest cyber threats. This intelligence helps us to better educate our clients and sharpens our solutions. With an estimated 350,000 pieces of new malware released every day, we need to stay on our toes.
