Transforming cybersecurity and enhancing data management for Puraffinity

Discover how Puraffinity partnered with Economit to navigate cybersecurity challenges, enhance data management, and achieve sustainability goals.

Client overview

  • Puraffinity
  • London, United Kingdom
  • Technology
  • puraffinity.com
  • Founded in 2015, Puraffinity is a technology company dedicated to sustainability. Its primary focus is tackling water-related challenges posed by climate change. They do this by developing advanced adsorption materials that can effectively remove from water chemicals known as PFAS.
CASE STUDY

The challenge

Puraffinity aims to provide PFAS-safe water to one billion people by 2030. With a core value of initiative, they proactively addressed potential issues, especially in cybersecurity, where start-ups and scale-ups face growing threats. However, their apps and software were scattered across systems, causing varied access and security challenges.

Inconsistent cybersecurity policies led to frustration. Concerns included phishing attacks, junk emails in mailboxes, and the risk of cyberattacks due to a lack of preparedness, reflected in the looming risk register.

To improve cybersecurity and meet international standards, Puraffinity aimed to consolidate their tech ecosystem. Additionally, in response to stricter PFAS regulations, they aimed to enhance internal data quality standards. This involved developing comprehensive PFAS analytics, partnering with third-party experts to standardise data workflows, architectures, and metadata management - a significant challenge amid ongoing tech development.

Working with Economit

Puraffinity discovered us through a marketing campaign and was impressed by our comprehensive approach. They engaged us to fulfil the part-time role of Data Protection Officer (DPO), providing flexible and cost-effective solutions. Our responsibilities included implementing security controls, GDPR training and project management during data migration.

As a DPO, we understood the challenges of growing companies, led the process and guided Puraffinity in adopting the right policies.

During data migration, we collaborated closely with the team, ensuring appropriate and cost-effective system choices.

In selecting an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, Puraffinity sought our specialist advice. We organised a demo, shared pricing, and conducted tailored discovery sessions. We’ve been a consistently flexible and responsive partner, addressing various IT challenges proactively for Puraffinity.

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The solution

As part of our responsibilities, we supported data protection and information security. We reviewed and approved policy documentation, conducted training sessions, and used tools to maintain awareness through simulated phishing scenarios. Banners were set up on specific emails to reinforce caution with unusual addresses.

We also worked on discrete development projects, creating a Performance Data app for automating data analysis performed by the product development team. Economit designed unique functions, including QC check processes, cross-plate comparisons, and customised sorting orders for each plate of samples. Additionally, for the final data migration stage, our team developed an automation tool to identify improperly migrated files, facilitating completion without extra costs.

The impact

In terms of Azure environment security, the Secure Score consistently achieved an extremely high ranking. However, the greatest benefit lies in increased infosec and data protection awareness among team members.

Highly recommended

Agnes Duplessis - from Puraffinity says

"Economit have been a very flexible and reactive company to work with, always looking to proactively find solutions to our various IT hurdles."

Khai Nguyen - from Puraffinity says

"Economit's app has enabled us to automate our data processing tasks and provided us the ability to leverage our library of data more effectively, helping us to advance our material development process in a timely manner."