First it was the Coop, then Marks and Spencer. In 2025, both companies announced in quick succession that their business systems had been compromised. Scores of other companies, including a children’s daycare chain, have fallen prey to hackers this year. It seems that the threat of cyber-attack is rarely out of the news.
At Soha, we are responsible for the safe storage and use of the data of 17,657 individual residents. The company also runs countless information systems and processes to keep the services to those residents operating.
We wanted to check we were doing everything we could to protect customers so, during the summer, we submitted our systems, our protocols and our staff to a lengthy evaluation by the Government’s Cyber Essentials scheme.
Housing associations don’t have to do this – the process is entirely voluntary.
The assessment resulted in Soha being awarded Cyber Essentials Plus, the highest approval rating and one rarely given in the housing sector. Part of the evaluation saw independent security experts carry out spot-checks to try to infiltrate our systems. The aim was to test if either our technology, or the way staff deploy it, indicated any weak spots.
Nasreen Hussain, Director of Finance and Resources, said “Telling customers that their data is safe with us is one thing, but the endorsement of external assessment offers the most reassurance. Our staff, our partners and the Regulator of Social Housing can be encouraged that Soha is a digitally resilient organisation constantly anticipating and meeting the challenges of responsibly holding and carefully using data.”
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You can see our approach and commitments to your privacy at www.soha.co.uk/data-protection