Intruder has launched a free plan for its exposure management suite aimed at mid-market security teams.

The plan provides permanent access to vulnerability management, cloud security posture checks and attack surface monitoring at no charge. It includes weekly scans for up to five external targets, weekly checks across one cloud environment, weekly scans for two container images, continuous monitoring on ports 80 and 443, unlimited remediation scans, a cyber hygiene score, one automated investigation credit each month and support for up to three users.

The London-based cyber security company said the offer is designed for businesses with small attack surfaces or practitioners responsible for a limited part of a larger environment. Users can connect a target, integrate a cloud environment and identify exposures on the same day, it added.

The move targets a part of the market that often falls between products built for large enterprises and those designed for smaller companies. Research cited by Intruder found that 46% of mid-market security teams believe enterprise platforms assume more staff, budget or complexity than they can support, while 29% said tools built for smaller businesses no longer meet their needs.

Market gap

As a result, many teams rely on manual processes or a patchwork of separate tools. Lengthy procurement cycles and six-figure price tags can also slow adoption of security software among smaller and growing businesses, according to Intruder.

Founded in 2015, the company sells software intended to help organisations identify weaknesses across internet-facing systems, cloud environments and container images. It says it now serves more than 3,000 companies worldwide.

Competition in cyber security has intensified as vendors try to reach customers beyond large corporates. Many suppliers have focused either on complex enterprise platforms or entry-level products, leaving medium-sized organisations to assemble their own mix of tools.

Intruder is positioning the free plan as a way for security, IT and DevOps teams to test its software over time rather than through a short trial. Customers can use the service indefinitely and move to a paid tier only if they want broader coverage, it said.

Chris Wallis, chief executive officer and founder of Intruder, outlined the rationale for the launch.

“Security and IT teams at small and medium-sized businesses face the same risks as their enterprise counterparts, but they’ve been priced out of the tools that would actually help them avoid breaches,” Wallis said.

“We built Intruder to enable security for the 99%, and our free plan is the logical extension of that commitment. Intruder benefits from using open-source software as part of our offering. Offering a free plan allows us to give back to the security community, which shouldn’t need a six-figure security budget and 10-person team to stay secure.”

Feature set

The free tier centres on regular checks rather than unrestricted use. External vulnerability scans are limited to five targets, cloud posture checks to one environment across AWS, Azure or Google Cloud, and container image scans to two images. Monitoring is limited to web ports 80 and 443, while access is capped at three users.

Even with those limits, the package reflects a broader shift in cyber security buying as vendors try to reduce friction in procurement and evaluation. For smaller organisations, proving operational value early can matter as much as the software itself, especially when security teams must justify spending against other technology priorities.

Intruder said the free offer is intended to help practitioners improve risk visibility and reduce remediation times before extending coverage. The plan is now available on a permanent basis.

Following the planned reopening of Botley Road at the end of August, city visitors will no longer be able to purchase a £5-a-day congestion charge permit, and drivers passing automatic number plate recognition cameras during charging times will face a £70 fine.

The policy is called traffic filters, and the change is planned for September 14 with a six-month public consultation set to open on the same day.

The plans were approved in November 2022, but have been delayed due to the long-running Botley Road closure, with the congestion charge used as a temporary transition measure.

Congestion charge sign and camera (Image: Isabella Harris/NQ)

County transport boss Gareth Epps is “confident” the reopening will not be delayed again and said he hopes the switch means “people will be able to move about as freely, if not freer, than they are now with buses moving rather than being stuck in traffic jams, people being able to get around walking and cycling”.

He added: “People will enjoy the fact that the city is open for business and every point in the city will be freely accessible without passing through a charge point.”

Business owners from the Oxford Business Action Group (OBAG) do not agree – some say the impact will be “devastating”, has left them “depressed” and considering closure.

Oxford business owners at County Hall (Image: Isabella Harris/NQ)

Niaz Ali, co-owner of Hollow Way Autoparts, said the policy is creating “a hostile environment to run a small business”.

He said: “I talked to small business owners on our road today and they were all so depressed and have basically thrown in the towel.”

Yola Drage, who runs La Cucina in St Clement’s, said she and other owners had hoped the recent council cabinet reshuffle, which saw Mr Epps take the transport job, could enable a change in direction.

She said: “For St. Clement’s businesses, the councillors’ decisions concerning the traffic filter plan means we either survive or close.

“It is distressing to be in this postcode lottery.

“How is it fair that some businesses are forced to lose out on custom because they’re located near a congestion charge point while those outside Oxford are free of restrictions and customers can get to them more easily?”

Fraser Jones owns Barefoot Bakery and called the filters “another damaging move from a council that has no consideration for local businesses”. 

He described “zero consultation” with owners.

Restaurateur and OBAG spokesperson, Bernadette Evans, said: “We’re furious that customers wanting to arrive by car will be made even more unwelcome in our city when the traffic filters replace the congestion charge, and we just don’t understand why the council is doing this to us.”

She questioned why the council were not “doing their jobs properly and forming a business task force” amid “all the other economic headwinds many small businesses are experiencing”.

Bernadette added: “But they’ve done absolutely nothing to help, they have no interest or experience whatsoever in high street businesses and are making it even harder to trade by restricting how customers reach our businesses.

“If only they would get themselves to east Oxford and speak to actual business owners they might begin to have some understanding of the hardship they’re causing.”

Mr Epps previously agreed to meet with OBAG owners, but this has not yet happened.

He said: “We are getting dates in diaries.”

The transport boss says he has met with some owners, been in touch with businesses to make them aware of permit exemptions and is “open to a full discussion”.

He added: “If something feels as though it should be simpler than it is, there might be a reason for that, and I might be able to help.”

Oxfordshire residents will continue to have the same number of permits to enter the zone covered by filters, as they currently do for the congestion charge – these should transfer automatically.

Mr Epps called for residents who have not applied for permits to do so online.

He said while “most people don’t use a car to access the city centre”, there is a “range of permits available free of charge, including for people with regular hospital appointments”.

Since its introduction, over 205,000 congestion charge fines have been cancelled, including some for ‘deceased’ drivers, motorists who were in prison, and emergency service vehicles.

Thousands of those cancellations occurred due to permit errors.

Congestion charge sign (Image: Isabella Harris/NQ)

Mr Epps said: “There is an initial grace period where people will just be sent warning letters rather than fines.

“But I’m acutely conscious that we need a system that is reliable and that works without people having to go back and make corrections.”

During the first six months of the traffic filter trial, the council will send a warning notice the first time any car goes through a traffic filter without a permit.

The cameras will remain at the same locations and operate at the same times as the congestion charge.

Those locations have prompted concern about displaced traffic causing issues for residential streets outside the charge zone, including for people attempting to access the city’s hospitals.

Cycling campaign group Cyclox, which supports the plans and “believes that traffic filters can be an effective way to reduce traffic, particularly private car use”, also wants this to be “kept under review”.

The filter trial period is up to 18 months, and Mr Epps said with the creation of a “permanent scheme” after this, “there are no reasons why the existing charging points should necessarily stay -these things can be moved”.

He insists “we are listening to feedback”, “the trial will be carefully monitored” and “changes have been made to, for example, permit types, in response to feedback”.

Leader of the county council Green Group, Ian Middleton, said confusion with the congestion charge has pushed him to support the traffic filters despite being initially “concerned”.

Councillor Ian Middleton (Image: Ian Middleton)

He still has some reservations, describing them as “experimental”, saying “we have to assess it when it’s been in place for long enough”.

Ian is positive about the impact of electric buses and said the policies were “part of the deal” to enable them by making traffic move better in the city.

Siobhann Mansel-Pleydell from Oxfordshire Liveable Streets campaign described the charge as having already created “cleaner air, safer streets, and real choice about how we get around”.

She said: “We welcome the move to traffic filters and support the test and learn approach.”

Robin Tucker, co-chair of The Oxfordshire Coalition for Healthy Streets and Active Travel (CoHSAT) (Image: The Oxfordshire Coalition for Healthy Streets and Active Travel (CoHSAT))

Robin Tucker, Co-Chair of the Coalition for Healthy Streets and Active Travel in Oxfordshire, said: “What we’ll be interested in, in a year’s time, is how the traffic filters compare to the congestion charge, but we are sure we won’t want to go back to the traffic nightmare of stuck traffic and dangerous rat-running from the ten years before that.”

SOFIAH NICHOLE SALIVIO

News Editor

Footasylum has partnered with THG Fulfil to install an automated AutoStore system at its warehouse operation, marking THG Fulfil’s first end-to-end AutoStore deployment for an external retail client.

THG Fulfil will design, integrate and activate the system as both principal contractor and technology provider. The installation is intended to handle Footasylum’s full live stock keeping unit range ahead of the peak trading period.

The build will include 85 AutoStore R5 robots, more than 96,000 bin locations and 24 carousel ports. All live SKUs will be stored within the AutoStore grid.

THG Fulfil is supplying the project through a Robotics-as-a-Service model rather than a traditional capital purchase, allowing Footasylum to avoid the upfront infrastructure costs often associated with a first large warehouse automation project.

The arrangement is also a notable step for THG Fulfil as it expands technology developed inside its own operations into the wider retail market. The Footasylum project uses the same software and operational approach applied across AutoStore systems in THG Fulfil’s own fulfilment network.

At the centre of the installation is THG Fulfil’s warehouse control software, developed in-house and refined through its direct-to-consumer business. Footasylum will become the first outside retailer to run that software at the core of its fulfilment operation.

Automation shift

For Footasylum, the project is one of the business’s larger infrastructure investments in recent years as it looks to support growth across its multichannel retail model. The company operates more than 65 stores in the UK and also sells through websites and wholesale channels.

Targeting younger consumers in fashion streetwear and sportswear, the retailer said the new goods-to-person setup is designed to improve product flow through the warehouse while helping it manage a broader product range. The automated grid system is also expected to use warehouse space more densely than conventional shelving layouts.

The installation is being delivered within a three-month programme, with first orders expected to go live in September. That would put the system in place before the end-of-year shopping rush, a key test period for warehouse operations.

As an authorised AutoStore partner and operator of a designated Red Site in the UK, THG Fulfil has been able to test and adapt the platform over a number of years. Those changes include improvements in the software layer used to direct warehouse activity.

Tom Killeen, Chief Operating Officer of THG Ingenuity, outlined the group’s case for the project and the commercial model behind it.

“What will make this partnership different is not just the hardware, it is the software and operational knowledge behind it. THG Fulfil has spent two decades obsessing over the end consumer experience as a retailer, and that knowledge is embedded into everything we build. As a unique global distributor and integrator for AutoStore, we bring proprietary SaaS infrastructure including a purpose-built WCS, an AI-backed data science function, and a depth of operational experience that compounds in value long after go-live.

“For Footasylum, our Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS) commercial model removes the traditional barriers to entry for a first major automation project, giving them access to enterprise-grade infrastructure without the capital commitment. With their entire SKU range running through a system purposefully designed around their operation, we are confident the results will speak for themselves.”

Growth plans

Footasylum has been expanding its offer across both third-party and owned brands and recently entered a partnership with British streetwear label Trapstar. As the product mix widens, fulfilment complexity tends to increase, particularly for retailers serving online and store demand from the same supply chain.

Hannah Mercer, Chief Executive Officer of Footasylum, said the automation project is intended to support that expansion and provide a more advanced fulfilment base for the business.

“As Footasylum continues to grow, we are committed to investing in the infrastructure that will support the business today and long into the future. Our fulfilment operation is a critical part of that, and this project represents one of the most significant investments we have made in the business in recent times.

“Working closely with THG Fulfil, we have designed a solution tailored to the specific demands of our operation and the increasing breadth of our offer. As our product range expands and the business evolves, it is vital that the infrastructure underpinning it keeps pace.

“This investment gives us a materially more advanced fulfilment platform – one that helps us manage greater complexity, improve the flow of products through the operation and lay the groundwork for the next stage of Footasylum’s development, all while continuing to deliver for our customers.”

AutoStore, founded in Norway, now has more than 1,900 systems in over 65 countries.