By Ben Smoker, CEO of Sota
As cyberattacks dominate the headlines, small and medium-sized UK businesses are facing an impossible choice: pay enterprise prices for protection, or face enterprise-level risk. Sota says it’s time for change.
For 36 years, Sota has been part of the digital fabric of British business. Founded in Kent in 1989, at the dawn of the PC era, the company grew alongside its clients through the internet boom, the rise of cloud computing, and now the transformative age of artificial intelligence.
Through every shift, Sota’s philosophy has stayed the same: independence, accountability, and partnership. The business owns and operates its own data centres, private cloud, and fibre network ensuring complete control over service delivery and security.
“For three decades we’ve helped UK organisations adapt to change,” says Ben Smoker, CEO of Sota.
“Today, as cyber threats escalate faster than ever, our mission is to make world-class protection affordable and achievable for every business, not just the biggest.”
The Growing Cost of Staying Safe
The numbers tell a worrying story.
The UK government’s latest Cyber Security Breaches Survey revealed that 43% of businesses reported an attack in the past year, rising to 74% among larger firms. The average breach takes over 250 days to detect and contain, while ransomware can bring entire networks down in hours.
Yet while cyber risk explodes, so too do cybersecurity costs. Licensing models, per-endpoint pricing, and mandatory add-ons from global vendors have driven the average cost of a managed detection service far beyond what most SMEs can afford.
Meanwhile, cyber insurance premiums have surged and underwriters now often demand evidence of continuous monitoring and incident response before offering cover. Basic certifications such as Cyber Essentials are no longer enough.
“The reality is that many UK SMEs are being priced out of adequate protection,” Smoker explains.
“They’re either overpaying for oversized platforms, or relying on tools that simply aren’t up to the job. That’s a broken market, and one we’re here to fix.”
SotaProtect MDR: Enterprise Protection, SME Pricing
In response, Sota launched SotaProtect MDR, a next-generation Managed Detection and Response service powered by Cynet, a global leader in AI-driven cybersecurity.
The platform fuses Cynet’s award-winning XDR (Extended Detection and Response) technology covering endpoint, network, user behaviour, and deception analytics, with Cynet’s 24/7 global SOC and Sota’s UK-based cyber defence and NOC teams.
The result is continuous threat monitoring, instant response, and complete peace of mind.
Independent MITRE ATT&CK evaluations ranked Cynet ahead of big-name competitors, achieving 100% detection and prevention with zero false positives, outperforming major players like CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, and Sophos.
But where those vendors charge enterprise rates, SotaProtect MDR delivers the same level of protection at a fraction of the cost.
“No business should have to choose between cost and protection,” says Smoker.
“We’ve taken a platform trusted by global enterprises, and made it accessible to the UK mid-market, combining AI-driven detection with human expertise and British accountability.”
Reinventing Cyber Defence for the Next Decade
Sota’s evolution into a cybersecurity powerhouse reflects its broader transformation under Smoker’s leadership. Since taking the helm in 2025, he and his leadership team have driven a renewed focus on People First, Customer at the Core, Innovation That Matters, Sustainable Technology, and Total Accountability.
The company’s guiding mantra “Shaping Tomorrow, Together” captures this new chapter: one that blends heritage with innovation, and independence with collaboration.
Sota is investing heavily in the technologies that will define the next decade, from multi-cloud infrastructure and agentic AI to end-to-end cyber defence, empowering UK organisations to grow with confidence in an increasingly hostile digital world.
“Our reinvention isn’t about changing who we are,” Smoker concludes.
“It’s about amplifying what’s always made us different, independence, resilience, and an unwavering commitment to protecting British business.”
