Vital Signs Solutions, creators of PocDoc, achieves Cyber Essentials Plus certification

DigitalHealth.London Accelerator company Vital Signs Solutions, creators of the PocDoc digital platform, have achieved the stringent standards of the UK Government’s Cyber Essentials Plus certification through help from technology commercialisation company, Crossword Cybersecurity Plc.

PocDoc was borne out of a vision of allowing anyone with a smartphone or tablet to test themselves for a range of major diseases and conditions. The end-to-end platform facilitates testing for health conditions via a fingerprick, and provides users with a full health assessment in minutes, offering solutions to address any health-related issues that arise. Most recently the PocDoc platform has been providing an end-to-end Covid-19 rapid testing solution for workplaces across the UK, allowing employers to enable a workforce to return to work in a Covid-safe way.

Working with the Crossword Consulting Team, a full review of every aspect of security processes and technology was undertaken to ensure the protection of data from the point of entry for its whole life, as well as ensure the resilience of the platform against cyber attacks. The five key areas covered by Cyber Essentials Plus are: Firewalls and Internet Gateways, Security Configuration, Access Control, Malware Protection and Patch Management. The improvements made were then independently tested before certification was awarded. 

Steve Roest, CEO & Co-founder of Vital Signs Solutions, said: “As a digital healthcare business, being responsible for patient data is fundamental to everything we do. The PocDoc platform is growing rapidly and Cyber Essentials Plus, with its need for a hands-on technical verification, rather than simple self-certification, ensures a strong security posture and foundation for growth that focuses on the trust placed in us by patients with their data.

“The in-depth programme offered by DigitalHealth.London accelerator has been instrumental in guiding PocDoc to make patient data security at the heart of our digital platform. Through the support offered by DigitalHealth.London we were able to secure Cyber Essentials Plus certification while also scaling our platform at speed.”