CyberCrest is an independent IT security, network and surveillance engineering practice based in Christchurch. We design, configure and operate the infrastructure organisations depend on — segmented networks, business wireless, firewalls, connectivity and camera systems — and we stay accountable for how it performs after handover. Sites under our specification run from Canterbury to central London.
Per-device platform licence fees on the systems we specify
Environments engineered and under support
Countries operated in — New Zealand and the United Kingdom
Response window under a managed agreement
The UniFi platform carries no per-camera or per-user licence. That cost is not discounted, deferred or bundled — it does not exist. Monitoring, patching and support are a separate managed agreement, scoped and priced in writing before anything is signed.
Most engagements cross more than one discipline, and that is where the failures usually sit. A camera system is only as reliable as the switch powering it. A phone system is only as good as the queueing policy on the network carrying it. Payment terminals are only as isolated as someone decided to make them on the day.
CyberCrest holds the specification for all four layers, so there is one design, one document set and one organisation answerable when something behaves unexpectedly. The design authority for a project does not change hands partway through it, and nothing is handed to an account manager once the proposal is signed. Cabling, electrical work and physical installation are delivered by licensed partner trades working to our drawings and our sign-off.
Segmented topologies, next-generation firewall policy, intrusion prevention and encrypted remote access. Specified against the site, configured to that specification, and documented so the next engineer can read it.
Coverage that holds at the cell edge under real device load. Wireless designed from a survey of the actual building, and internet connectivity engineered so one circuit fault does not stop the site trading.
Camera systems engineered as network infrastructure: coverage modelled against DORI, storage sized against a stated retention figure, and the whole surveillance segment isolated from everything else.
Ongoing custody of what we build: monitoring, firmware control, configuration backup and a named escalation path with a defined response window.
On a flat network, every device shares one broadcast domain. The unpatched terminal, the smart display, the contractor's laptop and the file server are all neighbours, and anything that reaches one of them can reach the rest. This is not a theoretical exposure. It is the most common way a small organisation loses a working week.
We build zoned networks — staff, payments, surveillance, building services and guest — with inter-zone traffic denied by default and every exception written down as a rule with a reason attached. The surveillance segment carries no outbound internet route. Payment devices are isolated in line with PCI DSS segmentation expectations. Guest traffic reaches the internet and nothing else.
Segmentation adds no hardware cost. It is a design decision, made once, at the only point in a project where it is cheap to make.
Network architecture and security →A circuit drops, the power flickers, a switch reboots — and everything downstream goes with it. Cameras stop recording. Terminals stop taking payment. Doors stop reading credentials. None of that is inevitable; it is the consequence of a design decision nobody made.
We build continuity into the specification: a second path to the internet, battery backing every device that matters, and hardware racked, powered and labelled rather than stacked on a shelf in a cupboard.
Subscription surveillance platforms move footage offsite by default and then licence access back to the organisation that generated it. That creates a third-party dependency, a data-residency position nobody chose deliberately, and a cost that grows with every sensor added.
CyberCrest architects for local-site retention. The recorder sits inside the isolated surveillance segment, on the premises, so recorded material stays under the client's control and inside its own jurisdiction — the Privacy Act 2020 in New Zealand, UK GDPR in Britain. Where the site has UPS and WAN failover in place, a power cut or line fault interrupts nothing: the recorder keeps writing and the cameras keep feeding it.
Cloud replication is available through UniFi where a client wants offsite redundancy. It is scoped as an option, not imposed as a default.
We do not quote hardware against a phone call. The first conversation costs nothing and tells both parties whether there is a fit. From there, the assessment is scoped work with a defined deliverable, because a design worth acting on takes more than a walk-around with a clipboard.
A short conversation at no cost about the site, the problem and the constraints. Enough for both parties to judge whether it is worth going further.
Scoped survey of current state, coverage and exposure. Findings presented and walked through in person, with a fixed-scope proposal to follow.
Documented architecture, then configuration, hardening and commissioning. Physical works delivered by licensed partners under our specification and sign-off.
Handover with the full as-built pack: topology, addressing, VLAN map, port schedule and policy. Then monitoring and change control under a managed agreement where required.
Defined deliverable, fixed price, documented acceptance criteria. Most installations run this way.
Monthly agreement covering monitoring, maintenance, patching and a defined response window.
Architecture review, vendor assessment and independent second opinion, billed by time.
We specify a small number of platforms and know them to depth, rather than selecting on whatever carries the best margin in a given quarter. Ubiquiti UniFi is the standard for routing, switching, wireless, surveillance and access control because one management plane across all five removes an entire category of integration failure, and because the licensing model does not tax the client for adding a camera. CyberCrest is an accepted member of the Ubiquiti UniFi Partner Program. Where a requirement genuinely falls outside the standard, we say so and specify what does fit.
CyberCrest is based in Christchurch and delivers across the city, Selwyn, Waimakariri and the wider Canterbury region, with national coverage by scope. Client sites in London are supported under the same technology standard, documentation format and engagement model.
Work spans commercial, office, retail and hospitality, industrial and manufacturing, logistics and warehousing, education, healthcare, agriculture and rural, recreation and leisure, enterprise and core infrastructure, and residential premises where the requirement warrants an engineered system.
Tell us about the site and what is not working. If there is a fit we will scope an assessment. If there is not, we will say so early and you will have lost nothing but a phone call.
