A new year is a good excuse to check your IT is pulling its weight. This year there’s a hard deadline in the mix too: the UK’s analogue phone network switches off at the end of January. Here’s our checklist to work through with your team – or with us.
1. Get off the old phone lines before 31 January 2027
The UK’s analogue phone network (PSTN) is being switched off by 31 January 2027. After that, old copper phone lines – and anything still plugged into them, like alarms, lift lines and card machines – will stop working.
- List every phone line, alarm and card machine you have.
- Ask your provider which are still on analogue lines.
- Move them to a digital service such as VoIP or SoGEA broadband.
2. Make sure no PCs are still on Windows 10
Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 10 on 14 October 2025, so those machines no longer get security fixes. If any of your PCs still run it, upgrade or replace them. Here’s what that involves.
3. Train your team to spot phishing
Phishing is still the most common way into a business. In the government’s latest Cyber Security Breaches Survey, 43% of UK businesses reported a breach or attack in the past year, and 38% had been hit by phishing.
- Run a short security awareness session for everyone.
- Try a phishing simulation to see who clicks.
- Agree a simple rule: if an email asks for money or passwords, check by phone first.
4. Turn on multi-factor authentication everywhere
A stolen password shouldn’t be enough to get into your email. Check that multi-factor authentication (MFA) is switched on for every Microsoft 365 account – including the ones nobody uses any more.
5. Test your backups – don’t just assume they work
Microsoft doesn’t fully back up your 365 data, so you need your own backup of email, OneDrive and SharePoint. Then test a restore. A backup you’ve never restored from is a guess, not a plan.
6. Tidy up who has access to what
Remove accounts for people who’ve left, check who’s got admin rights, and make sure shared passwords have been changed. Our onboarding and offboarding checklist helps here.
7. Set some ground rules for AI tools
Your team is probably already using tools like ChatGPT or Copilot. Decide what’s allowed, and make sure nobody’s pasting customer data or confidential documents into free tools.
8. Check you’re on track for Cyber Essentials
Cyber Essentials is the government-backed baseline for small businesses, and more customers and insurers now ask for it. If you don’t have it yet, make 2027 the year.
9. Review your IT support
Ask yourself: do calls get answered quickly? Are problems fixed before you notice them? Do you know what you’re paying for? If the answer to any of these is no, see what’s included in Protect.
Want a hand with your checklist?
We’ll go through it with you for free and tell you what needs doing first. Book a free IT review or call us on 01282 506 617.
