The war against cyber criminals has been flung in to the spotlight since a huge attack which crippled hundreds of NHS services in England and Wales and thousands more companies around the world.

And an ordinary looking office in the heart of the island’s financial sector in Athol Street, Douglas, is a key base for security operations on a worldwide scale.

Expert cyber security researchers work here for a company with global influence called Computer Network Defence Ltd.

Chief technology officer Jeff Ames, 49, is the only member of the small team prepared to go public with his identity.

He invited Business News into the ’nerve centre.’ People scurrying about in the street outside are mostly unaware of what goes on here.

The father-of-two and former RAF man who spent nearly 20 years working on cyber defences with NATO, says the war against cyber crime is never-ending.

He is flanked by banks of screens relaying such things as real time alerts and the latest movements. A screen shows, to the untrained eye, what looks like the former arcade game, Space Invaders, zapping across a map of the world.

The security situation is constantly monitored.

Mr Ames told Business News that Isle of Man companies and residents should always be vigilant. ’Being connected to the internet is letting the world in. It’s not like we in the island have got a moat round the island.

’What we want to do is make sure everyone is secure.’

Asked what the message should be to people in the island he said: ’Very simple things. One is to make sure operating syatems are up to date. Make sure they have firewall and anti-virus which is up to date.

’This does not have to cost anything - it’s just a bit of time and thought.’

Asked if there have been many instances of companies being breached in the island he said: ’I’ve got to be careful because of customer confideniality. I can’t say there hasn’t been any and I wouldn’t say there has been a lot.

’The Isle of Man is a lovely place to live and everyone is used to the old way of doing things like leaving their doors open and people leaving their keys in the ignition, mainly because we are on an island. You can feel safe and secure because you know everybody.

’Unfortunately when you connect to the internet you are letting the world in your back door.’

Mr Ames is a friend of the company’s boss Andy Cuff, who is based in Bath, in England. A website created out of boredom on his kitchen table a decade ago has grown to become the go-to place for the world’s biggest security agencies.

Mr Cuff had just set up his cyber-security business Computer Network Defence (CND) when he developed the Security Wizardry Radar Page.

He never dreamed then that it would receive nearly 40,000 hits an hour or be used daily across the globe with America’s National Security Agency (NSA) depending on it.

Mr Cuff said that whenhe saw photos of the company’s website on the screens at the NSA in the US ’I realised just how important it had become. There are also pictures of it being used by the US Fleet Cyber Command.’

CND works across the world for clients of all sizes and employs 50 staff.

They are responsible for identifying vulnerabilities which could be exploited by hackers.

Cyber security experts have to deal with more threats than ever, and these threats are growing in complexity and sinister intent.