A risk-averse approach

Luke Appleby, Security Consultant and Owner, Equilibrium Risk

 Contributing Editor Steed Webzell chats with Luke Appleby, who despite an early military career fraught with danger, now runs a business that helps manufacturers become risk-averse

Helping manufacturers worry less about security is how Luke Appleby describes the core business of Equilibrium Risk. And where better to learn about security than the Armed Forces?

“My father was in the Coldstream Guards, so it felt like a natural progression for me after leaving school over 20 years ago,” he says. “I worked as a Section Commander as part of the Anti-Tank Platoon of the Coldstream Guards, before becoming a Platoon Sergeant with responsibility for up to 35 soldiers.”

Luke saw active service in Northern Ireland and Iraq, and wanted to carry on helping protect Britain’s interests when he left the military in 2013.

“I see manufacturing as the spine of our economy,” he says. “It supports so many jobs and helps Britain maintain its prominence on the global stage. When I co-founded Equilibrium Risk as a complete risk-based solutions provider, I felt we should focus on the manufacturing sector.”

Luke describes the early years of Equilibrium Risk as “a whirlwind of learning”, but today the company is a leader in the provision of property, personal and cyber protection for all types of UK manufacturing businesses.

“A manufacturer is only as secure as its weakest link, be that physical assets, staff or cyber systems, so we set about improving the security posture of manufacturers while saving them time and money,” says Luke, who is a member of the Institute of Strategic Risk Management. “Our five-layer method [assess, protect, detect, respond, recover] creates a security package tailored to the customer, where the strengths of one security layer overlap the weaknesses of the next.”

Equilibrium Risk is today an award-winning security and risk management company that can boast a number of successes across the manufacturing industry, particularly those that are automating their processes. And it’s easy to get started.

“We provide a free security review to help manufacturers find the most efficient, cost-effective way of protecting their business while achieving a return on their investment,” he concludes.