CLIENT STORY

From crisis to cloud

An Australasian import and distribution firm with a insecure, end-of-life environment. It has become a cloud-native business with enhanced security and reliability and day one threats shut down.

Three orange circular icons show a checked gear, cloud servers, and overlapping documents over a pale gray gear.

Background

A large scale import and distribution firm, running on borrowed time

The business supplies customers across New Zealand and Australia relying on Microsoft 365 for collaboration, SugarCRM instance for customer and supplier relationships and M-Files for documents. When they engaged Softlink it became immediately clear the environment handed over by their previous IT provider carried serious, unresolved security risks alongside aging, end of life infrastructure.

What we inherited - a compromised end of life environment

A SugarCRM Linux server exposed directly to the internet, actively probed via SSH and SMTP from overseas.
A phone-app trojan (supply-chain attack) on two staff devices, with a remote-access backdoor installed.
Company email on multiple blacklists - likely from a prior breach; scan to email non-functional.
A 9 year old on-prem server running Windows Server 2012 R2 (past end of support) on loan hardware.
A UPS not connected to network gear - any power event took the entire internet connection down.
No cloud collaboration - all data on legacy file shares, unreachable remotely without a VPN

"On day one, the priority wasn't a roadmap - it was stopping the bleeding."

The approach - Contain first, then rebuild in the cloud

We began with a day-one lockdown to neutralise active threats, then worked through a staged plan: move data and applications to the cloud, decommission the legacy environment and put lasting protection and proactive management in place.

The solution

The work was delivered in sequence: contain first, rebuild second, then keep it protected and managed.

The outcome

Secured, modernised, and quietly running

security

Threats neutralised

Internet exposure blocked and day-one threats identified and resolved.

mail

Email reputation restored

Removed from blacklists; Microsoft 365 mail-flow rebuilt securely.

verified_user

Secure user & device access

Strengthened access security with Microsoft Entra ID, Conditional Access and phishing-resistant authentication, helping protect users and devices from account compromise.

radar

MDR live everywhere

Managed endpoint detection response live on every endpoint with 24/7 monitoring.

groups

Staff awareness tested

Ongoing security awareness training put in place for all staff.

event_repeat

Alignment programme active

Regular Technology Alignment reviews now in place.

call

Modern workplace commuications

Delivered an integrated Microsoft Teams calling and meeting room solution, bringing voice, video and collaboration together.

cloud_done

Modern cloud data solution

Moved business data from traditional on-premises file servers to Microsoft SharePoint and Teams, modernising the way information is stored, accessed and shared

devices

Device refresh & standardisation

Developed a planned approach to replacing ageing laptops and desktops, standardising devices across the business.

Softlink are proactive, responsive, and genuinely invested in our business. They feel like part of the team.

Paul - Company Secretary

Import and distribution firm, Auckland

Inherited a mess? We've seen worse.

Book a free IT assessment

We'll show you exactly where your risks are — and how to get to a secure, modern, cloud-native setup.

Book a free assessment