Cyber Security in Manchester: Penetration Testing, Cyber Essentials and PCI DSS

Sovereign Secure delivers cyber security in Manchester and across the North West from our head office at 16 Whalley Road, Accrington, about 20 miles north of the city centre. As a Lancashire cyber security company working across Greater Manchester, we cover penetration testing, Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus certification, PCI DSS assessments and ISO 27001. Most of the work is done remotely, and we come to your premises in Greater Manchester or Lancashire when a test or audit needs someone on site.

We are a Lancashire company with a Manchester (0161) number, and the North West is our home region. We don’t have a Manchester office and don’t claim one. We cover all of Greater Manchester, from Salford and Bolton to Stockport and Oldham, plus Preston, Blackburn, Burnley, Lancaster and Merseyside.

Where are we based, and do you work on site in Manchester?

We work from our Accrington head office. Remote delivery is the default because it is quicker to arrange and needs no travel, and we visit when the work needs someone physically present. Our cyber security Lancashire page covers the Accrington office itself and what we deliver on site from it.

What can be done remotely, and what needs a visit?

Most security testing and certification can be done without a visit. On-site work is mainly for wireless networks, physical tests and audits where an assessor must see things in person.

Penetration testing in Manchester and the North West

Penetration testing is an authorised, manual attack that shows which weaknesses an attacker could actually exploit, not just which ones a scanner flags. We test web applications, APIs, external and internal networks, cloud, mobile apps, IoT and POS/PIN hardware, Wi-Fi and people, and run red team and AI/LLM testing. The full range is on our penetration testing services page.

Reports double as compliance evidence. Where relevant, we map findings to PCI DSS Requirement 11.4, ISO 27001 Annex A 8.8 and Cyber Essentials Plus, so one report works for your assessor, your auditor and your customers. The NCSC’s penetration testing guidance explains what a good test should give you.

These are the main tests for Manchester and North West organisations, how each is delivered and where to find the full service page.

Wireless penetration testing in Manchester

Wireless testing always needs a visit. We survey corporate and guest Wi-Fi at each building, look for rogue and look-alike access points and signal leaking beyond your premises, check that guest networks are kept apart from corporate systems and, if you take card payments, cover the PCI DSS 11.2 wireless checks. Offices, warehouses and factories across Greater Manchester are within easy reach of Accrington. See wireless penetration testing for the full scope.

Infrastructure penetration testing in Manchester

Infrastructure (network) testing covers your internet-facing perimeter, your internal network and the Active Directory attack paths an intruder would follow. External penetration testing runs remotely. Internal testing usually runs remotely too, through a test virtual machine or a small testing device on your network, and we come on site in Greater Manchester or Lancashire when remote access is not practical. See network and infrastructure penetration testing.

Web application penetration testing in Manchester

Websites, customer portals and SaaS platforms are tested role by role against the OWASP Top 10, including the access control and business logic flaws that scanners miss. Testing is remote, so it suits development teams wherever they sit. See web application penetration testing.

Mobile application penetration testing in Manchester

iOS and Android apps are tested against the OWASP Mobile Application Security Verification Standard (MASVS), together with the APIs behind them. Our mobile app security testing checklist sets out the MASVS areas a thorough test covers. Testing is remote. See mobile application penetration testing.

Cyber Essentials in Manchester, Lancashire, Liverpool and Cheshire

We deliver Cyber Essentials in Manchester and across Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Liverpool and Merseyside, and Cheshire, certifying organisations to both Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus. Cyber Essentials is the UK government-backed scheme that certifies five basic controls: firewalls, secure configuration, user access control, malware protection and security update management. As an IASME-licensed certification body, we assess your answers and issue the certificate ourselves.

• Cyber Essentials (basic) is done entirely online. Our packages cost £320 to £750 + VAT, depending on organisation size and the package you choose (the fastest assesses within one working day).
• Cyber Essentials Plus adds an independent technical audit, which must be completed within three months of your basic certificate. Most audits are remote, and on-site audits are available across the North West, from Manchester and Lancashire to Liverpool and Cheshire. A remote retest of up to one hour within a month of the audit is free; other retests start at £400 + VAT.

Many central government contracts that involve personal information require Cyber Essentials, and many public bodies and larger companies ask their suppliers for it. The NCSC’s Cyber Essentials overview explains the scheme, and our Cyber Essentials Plus page covers the audit step by step.

PCI DSS assessments for North West merchants and payment firms

PCI DSS applies to any business that stores, processes or transmits payment card data. Sovereign Secure is a PCI SSC-approved Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) company. We can carry out a formal PCI DSS assessment leading to a Report on Compliance (ROC) and Attestation of Compliance (AOC), or help you choose and complete the right Self-Assessment Questionnaire.

We are also approved as a Qualified PIN Assessor and Card Production Security Assessor, and we sit on the PCI SSC’s Global Executive Assessor Roundtable for 2026-2028. For Requirement 11 we run PCI penetration testing, including segmentation tests, and deliver quarterly external ASV scans through a PCI SSC Approved Scanning Vendor partner.

ISO 27001 and ISO certification in Manchester

We are ISO 27001 certified, and our consultants prepare organisations for ISO 27001, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 22301 and other management system standards. Certification audits are carried out by our partner certification body, MQA International, which keeps the consultancy and the audit independent of each other. Most projects start with a gap analysis; our ISO 27001 consultancy page sets out the full process.

What do North West organisations usually need?

What you need depends on who is asking. These are the most common requirements by sector, and where to start.

What does cyber security cost for a Manchester business?

Our basic Cyber Essentials packages have fixed, published prices. Everything else depends on scope, so we send a fixed quote once the scope is agreed. For budgeting, use these figures:

How to choose a cyber security company in Manchester

When comparing cyber security companies in Manchester, choose on credentials you can verify and on fit with your scope, not on postcode: most testing and certification work runs remotely, so the nearest firm is not automatically the best one. These checks apply to any provider you shortlist, including us.

Our guide on how to choose a penetration testing company explains each check in more detail, with the published sources behind them.

Why choose Sovereign Secure for cyber security in Manchester?

Sovereign Secure Ltd (company no. 08334453, est. 2012, Accrington, Lancashire, UK) is a PCI SSC-approved Qualified Security Assessor (QSA), Qualified PIN Assessor (QPA) and Card Production Security Assessor (CPSA) company, a member of the PCI SSC Global Executive Assessor Roundtable 2026-2028, an IASME-licensed Cyber Essentials certification body and an ISO 27001-certified firm, with offices in Los Angeles, Singapore, Dubai and Dhaka.

• Credentials you can check. Our PCI approvals and GEAR membership are published by the PCI Security Standards Council, and our Cyber Essentials licence comes from IASME. We are also registered with the ICO.
• Testing and certification from one firm. Penetration testing, Cyber Essentials, PCI DSS and ISO 27001 work together, so one set of evidence can support several frameworks.
• Clients in the UK and internationally, including The Growth Company, Fiserv, Accor, Ticketmaster, Cashplus and Kuwait Finance House.

How do you get started?

1. Tell us what you need. Call 0161 523 5276 or use the enquiry form on this page.
2. Scope the work. For testing, send the details through our penetration testing quote form. For Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus, complete our Cyber Essentials scoping questionnaire.
3. Get a fixed quote for the agreed scope, before any work starts.
4. Book dates, remotely or at your premises.