Retained
A private digital office, retained
A named senior contact with continuing responsibility for the technology and security around a family and its businesses, so that one person knows how everything fits together and is accountable for it.
What the retainer holds
The remit is agreed in writing at the start and reviewed as circumstances change. It usually covers the following.
Identity and email architecture
How accounts, domains, mailboxes and authentication are arranged across the family, the household and the companies, and who holds what.
Devices
Laptops, phones and tablets for principals, family members, household staff and assistants, including what happens when one is lost, replaced or handed on.
Home and household networks
Connectivity at main and secondary residences, separation between household, staff, guest and building systems, and the equipment installed by others.
Secure communications
Which channels are used for what, particularly where instructions, payments or documents move between the family, its offices and its advisers.
Backups and recovery
Where the information actually lives, what is copied, how long copies are kept, and whether a restore has been tested rather than assumed.
Monitoring and alerting
What is watched, who receives an alert, and what happens next. Sensible thresholds, so that a genuine signal is not lost in routine noise.
Adviser and assistant access
Who can see and do what, on which systems, and how access is granted and withdrawn when a role, a firm or a relationship changes.
Coordination with company IT
Working alongside the internal teams and suppliers of the businesses the family owns, so decisions made in one place do not create exposure in another.
Awareness for family and staff
An annual awareness briefing for family members, assistants and household staff, covering what to watch for and how it tends to arrive, with the payment and incident procedures rehearsed where they exist.
An agreed review rhythm
A regular, scheduled point at which the position is examined, written up and discussed, rather than attention arriving only after something has gone wrong. The written record is what the family and its advisers can point to when someone asks what has been done.
Who it suits
- Families with several companies, property interests, trusts and multiple advisers, but no fully staffed family office.
- Family offices that want a named technology owner at adviser level.
- Principals who want one accountable person to ask, instead of assembling an answer from four suppliers.
- Households where assistants, staff and family members share systems that were never designed to be shared.
This is advisory work, not day-to-day IT support. Where a service desk is needed, I specify what it should do and hold it to account rather than replace it. What is being bought here is judgement, ownership and continuity of knowledge.
How it works
- Establish the baseline. Most retainers begin with a family cyber review, so that the arrangement starts from an accurate written picture rather than an assumption.
- Agree the remit and the rhythm. What is in scope, what is not, who I report to, how decisions are put to them and how often we meet.
- Name the contact. You deal with me. Where a specialist or a supplier is needed, I bring them in, set their role and remain the point of accountability.
- Report in plain language. Written updates a principal, a board or a solicitor can read without translation, keeping evidence, assumptions and recommendations separate.
- Review annually. The remit, the fee and the fit are examined once a year and changed if the situation has changed.
Continuity mapping is a separate piece of work to build, but once built it is usually maintained under the retainer, so the record stays current as entities, advisers, assets and access change.
Boundaries
I give no tax, legal or investment advice. Those determinations belong to your own advisers, and I work alongside them rather than across them.
Some incidents move beyond the competence of any single adviser: law enforcement involvement, extortion, and matters touching personal safety. Where that line is reached I escalate to named specialist partners, and the boundary is stated at the outset rather than discovered during an incident.
Decisions stay with the principal or the board. My responsibility is to keep them informed, prepared and able to decide. Where a board-facing security leadership remit is what is actually wanted, that is a virtual CISO engagement instead.
Personally led
The engagement is contracted through Dead Simple Computing Ltd and delivered within its applicable insurance and governance controls. I personally scope and lead the work; it is not passed to a rotating account team.
Fees are separately scoped and reflect direct senior involvement, complexity, discretion and limited capacity.
Discuss a retained arrangement
Outline the situation and the outcome you need. I will say plainly whether I can help and what a sensible next step looks like.