The Best Cyber Security Companies UK
The best UK cyber security companies in 2026 span very different sizes and specialisms. This guide compares 7 firms: Precursor Security, NCC Group, Bridewell, Redscan (Kroll), Bulletproof, JUMPSEC, and Secureworks, on accreditation, HQ and ownership, and pricing transparency. Precursor ranks first for UK mid-market organisations that want offensive testing and defensive monitoring from one accredited team; larger enterprise-scale needs are better matched further down this list.
Seven UK cyber security companies compared on the criteria that actually matter to buyers: verifiable accreditation, HQ and ownership, pricing you can see before a sales call, and who each firm genuinely suits.
We are Precursor Security, and we have ranked ourselves first on this list.
We are not the largest cyber security firm in the UK, and we are not trying to claim we are. We rank first here because of the audience this guide is written for: a UK mid-market organisation that wants offensive testing and defensive monitoring from one CREST-accredited team, with pricing it can see before a sales call. Firms like NCC Group operate at a genuinely different scale, and serve genuinely different needs, enterprise procurement, multi-region programmes, and global platforms are not what a mid-market buyer is usually shopping for.
We publish the selection criteria in full, describe every competitor fairly using only public information, and link the independent CREST member directory so you can check our working. Read the trade-offs listed against every firm, including us, before you shortlist anyone.
Seven firms, side by side
| Provider | HQ / ownership | Pricing published | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Precursor Security | Leeds, UK, independent | Yes | From £2,500 (pentest) / £900/mo (MDR) |
| 2. NCC Group | Manchester, UK, publicly listed (LSE: NCC, FTSE 250) | No | On application |
| 3. Bridewell | Reading, UK, founder-led with minority investment from Growth Capital Partners | No | On application |
| 4. Redscan (Kroll) | London, UK, part of Kroll Inc. (HQ New York, US) since 2021 | No | On application |
| 5. Bulletproof | Stevenage, UK, part of The GRC Group (Inflexion-backed) since 2024 | No | On application |
| 6. JUMPSEC | London, UK, independent | No | On application |
| 7. Secureworks | Atlanta, US, part of Sophos (Thoma Bravo-owned) since February 2025 | No | On application |
HQ and ownership verified against Companies House, the London Stock Exchange, and each firm's own newsroom, August 2026. "Not published" means we could not find pricing publicly stated; it does not mean the firm lacks a rate card.
The 7 best UK cyber
security companies in 2026
1. Precursor Security
Precursor holds triple CREST accreditation across Penetration Testing, Vulnerability Assessment, and Security Operations Centre services. Every tester and analyst is a UK-based, DBS-checked employee, nothing is subcontracted or offshored. The SOC runs from a physical facility in Newcastle upon Tyne. Pricing is published: penetration testing from £2,500, and MDR/SOC from £900 per month. Findings from an offensive engagement feed directly into SOC detection rules for clients running both services, the closed-loop model.
Trade-off: A mid-market specialist, not one of the largest UK cyber security firms. An organisation needing enterprise-scale, multi-region delivery is better served further down this list.
2. NCC Group
NCC Group is one of the largest listed cyber security consultancies in the world, headquartered in Manchester and listed on the London Stock Exchange as a FTSE 250 constituent. That scale gives it the bench depth to staff very large, multi-region assessment and managed service programmes that few firms on this list could resource.
Trade-off: Pricing is not published, and the engagement model is built for enterprise procurement rather than a smaller organisation buying its first test.
3. Bridewell
Bridewell is one of the UK's largest independently owned cyber security firms, founded in Reading in 2013 and still led by its co-founders after taking a minority growth investment from private equity firm Growth Capital Partners in 2021. It runs a 24/7 UK SOC and has built a strong track record in critical national infrastructure, financial services, and central government work.
Trade-off: Pricing is not published, and scoping tends to favour larger regulated programmes over a smaller one-off test.
4. Redscan (Kroll)
Redscan built a strong reputation as a UK MDR and testing provider before Kroll, the New York-headquartered risk and financial advisory firm, acquired it in 2021. It now operates inside Kroll's global Cyber Risk practice, which pairs testing with Kroll's wider forensics and incident response bench.
Trade-off: Pricing on application. Buyers are engaging with a US-owned global practice rather than a standalone UK specialist.
5. Bulletproof
Bulletproof pairs penetration testing with a broad compliance practice, including Cyber Essentials certification, from its Stevenage headquarters. It was acquired by The GRC Group, a governance-risk-compliance platform backed by private equity firm Inflexion, in June 2024, folding testing into a wider GRC offering.
Trade-off: A compliance-bundle specialist rather than a dedicated testing house, and pricing is not published.
6. JUMPSEC
JUMPSEC holds NCSC CHECK status alongside CREST accreditation, the combination that matters for PSN-connected environments and government work that mandates CHECK delivery. It is listed as a Crown Commercial Service supplier, which shortens public-sector procurement.
Trade-off: Pricing on application. CHECK status is a specific procurement requirement, not every organisation needs it.
7. Secureworks
Secureworks built its Taegis XDR platform into one of the best-known names in managed detection and response before Sophos completed its acquisition in February 2025. Sophos itself is owned by private equity firm Thoma Bravo. For a multinational standardising security operations on one platform across many regions, the scale is real.
Trade-off: A US-headquartered platform business; an organisation that specifically needs UK-based delivery and UK data residency should verify this directly. Pricing on application.
How we ranked them
Six criteria, each something a buyer should care about and can verify without taking anyone's word for it. Weighting is ours; the underlying facts are checkable.
Whether the firm runs both testing and monitoring, our closed-loop model, or is a single-discipline specialist. Neither is wrong; a buyer should know which they are getting.
Company accreditation confirmed in the CREST directory, and individually certified testers, not just an organisational badge on a website.
Whether testing and monitoring staff are UK-based employees, and whether client data stays in the UK, versus being routed through an offshore delivery centre.
Whether you can see rates before a sales call. Pricing on application costs buyers days of procurement time and makes comparison across firms difficult.
Whether the engagement model, minimum scope, and account structure suit a 50 to 2,000 person organisation, or are built for FTSE 100 procurement.
Whether verification of your fixes is included, and whether the firm offers anything beyond a once-a-year snapshot.
Red flags when choosing
a cyber security company
Whichever firm you choose, including us, walk away if you see these.
A "full-service" firm that subcontracts half of it
Some firms market a full offensive-and-defensive portfolio but subcontract one side to a third party. Ask directly who employs the people testing your systems and who employs the people watching your SOC alerts at 3am.
Accreditation that does not check out
Verify every CREST and NCSC CHECK claim against the official directories at crest-approved.org and ncsc.gov.uk. If a claim does not appear there, ask why before you proceed.
Offshore delivery behind a UK badge
A UK-registered company and a UK-based delivery team are not the same thing. Ask specifically where the testers or SOC analysts working on your account are located and employed.
Opaque pricing
A firm that cannot give you a rate range before a discovery call is optimising for deal-size discovery, not your budget. UK CREST day rates run £1,000 to £1,500; anyone refusing to anchor near that range is hiding something, in either direction.
Enterprise-only engagement models for a mid-market need
If your organisation is 50 to 500 people, a minimum-scope engagement, account structure, or contract length built for FTSE 100 procurement will cost you time and money you do not need to spend.
Reports that satisfy no one
Ask for a redacted sample report before you buy. If it reads like raw scanner output with no executive summary or prioritised remediation, your board gets nothing and your engineers get everything, unsorted.
Comparing a specific service?
This guide compares whole companies. If you already know you need penetration testing or a SOC, our discipline-specific comparisons go deeper on pricing, delivery model, and technical criteria.
Compare us against anyone on this list.
Fixed pricing published before you call. A written quote within 24 hours of a scoping conversation. Offensive findings that feed straight into defensive monitoring.
Choosing a cyber security company
The questions buyers ask most when comparing UK providers.
Start with accreditation you can verify independently: check CREST membership at crest-approved.org and, if government or CNI work is involved, NCSC CHECK status at ncsc.gov.uk. Then look at delivery model, in-house UK staff versus subcontracted or offshore, pricing transparency, whether you can see rates before a sales call, and whether the firm covers both offensive testing and defensive monitoring or only one discipline. Match the firm's scale to your own: a consultancy built for FTSE 100 procurement is a poor fit for a 50-person business, and a small specialist may lack the bench depth for a global rollout.
For penetration testing, look for CREST accreditation at company level, confirmed in the CREST member directory at crest-approved.org, plus individually certified testers such as a CREST Registered or Certified Tester. For public sector or government-connected work, check NCSC CHECK status at ncsc.gov.uk. ISO 27001 shows the firm manages its own information security to an audited standard, and Cyber Essentials, or Cyber Essentials Plus, is the UK government's baseline certification for basic cyber hygiene. Always verify claims in the official directories rather than taking a badge on a website at face value.
Penetration testing typically runs £1,000 to £1,500 per consultant day from a CREST-accredited provider, with a small external network test starting around £2,500 and a full multi-scope assessment reaching £10,000 or more. Managed detection and response or SOC-as-a-service is usually priced as a monthly subscription, starting from roughly £900 per month for a smaller estate and scaling with the number of monitored assets and users. Most firms in this comparison price on application; Precursor publishes both its penetration testing and MDR/SOC rates.
Not necessarily, but there is a real advantage when they do. A firm that runs both a testing practice and a SOC can feed penetration test findings directly into detection rules, so the same weakness a tester exploited gets flagged if anyone else tries it. Buying offensive and defensive from two separate firms works too, provided you or a third party actively connects the findings between them. The risk is that this handoff is easy to skip when nobody owns it.
Precursor Security, NCC Group, Bridewell, Redscan (Kroll), Bulletproof, JUMPSEC, and Secureworks all have a genuine claim to a place on a UK shortlist, each for a different reason: NCC Group for enterprise scale, Bridewell for CNI and regulated sectors, Redscan for incident response and forensics under Kroll, Bulletproof for bundled compliance, JUMPSEC for NCSC CHECK and public sector work, and Secureworks for a global detection and response platform. Which one is best depends entirely on your organisation's size and needs: a FTSE 100 global rollout and a 200-person UK business are not shopping for the same thing.