Matrix Internet’s cyber offering to SMEs evolves in a fast-changing world

The recent PHP global crisis underlined what SMEs are increasingly experiencing – an environment that is changing rapidly and increasingly affecting smaller companies. News headlines are no longer dominated by incidents involving large enterprises, SMEs are feeling the threat now too. Matrix Internet, an Irish digital agency, has expanded its cybersecurity offering to help SMEs move from one-off security checks to continuous protection, as AI speeds up both the discovery and the exploitation of vulnerabilities.

Incident-response tabletop exercises

In July, Matrix ran a remote tabletop exercise for a European technology client. Eight staff from across the business worked through realistic ransomware and DDoS scenarios. Their response was scored on a 10-category maturity framework covering escalation, decision authority, containment, GDPR awareness, internal and external communications, and recovery planning. The client received a maturity baseline, five key findings and a prioritised action plan. For many SMEs, this is the first time they’ve tested their incident playbooks before needing them.

Platinum managed-security tier

More than ever, SMEs, their clients and procurement teams require and value deeper proactive measures and increased “peace of mind”. In response, Matrix has launched a Platinum tier that gives SMEs continuous security monitoring. It is built on transparent, open-source technology hosted entirely in the EU, with no vendor lock-in: a centrally managed monitoring platform, intrusion detection on each client server, and logs stored securely offsite. Alerts are triaged by Matrix’s cyber team. The first clients signed up in October, and Matrix expects the tier to grow over the coming year.

Responding to the AI-accelerated threat landscape

PHP2Shell showed how quickly things now move. Two critical flaws in the PHP engine left millions of websites exposed regardless of how well their own code was written. Exploit details leaked before patches were released, older PHP versions received no official fix, and researchers reported that AI tools had cut exploit development from months to days. For agencies managing many client sites, the question is no longer whether you patch, but how quickly you can find every affected server.

Matrix patched all of the more than 200 client servers it manages within 24 hours, including those on older PHP versions with no official fix, using backported patches. It has since rebuilt access across the whole estate. All access now goes through an MFA-enforced, role-based access platform, behind a firewall that limits connections to approved developer addresses. The next step is automatically collecting each server’s software versions, including PHP, web server and database. That will let Matrix see its exposure within minutes when the next critical vulnerability lands, and help clients move off unsupported versions.