Demis Cunningham
Systems architect · Risk and security · Forensic trainer and consultant
Crieff, Perthshire, Scotland
I design, secure and look after digital infrastructure for private clients and businesses where discretion matters as much as uptime. I take on new work selectively, usually by introduction.
The practice
Selective by design
I keep the book of clients small on purpose. The standard of care I want to give doesn't scale, and the people I work with tend to stay for years.
Confidentiality as habit
Years working in forensic and secure settings taught me to handle sensitive information as a matter of routine. Access is minimal, logged and explained, and nothing is ever discussed with another client.
Built to be handed on
Every engagement is documented so that it can be reviewed, adjusted or passed to someone else at any point. Infrastructure should outlast whoever manages it, me included.
What that covers
- Private email and hosting on dedicated, UK-based servers, isolated from other clients
- Domain and estate custody: registrations, DNS and renewals kept in order so nothing lapses
- Security monitoring and incident response across everything I manage
- Bespoke platforms and websites, from portfolios to multi-tenant systems
Background
Before systems architecture, I started out in the military. From there I moved into insurance with Allmerica Financial (now The Hanover Insurance Group), licensed as an insurance producer in nine US states and a member of the Massachusetts Association of Insurance Agents, where understanding and explaining risk was the daily work. I then spent many years in forensic and secure settings in the UK, including Broadmoor Hospital and the prison service, where sound judgement, careful records and a steady head are simply part of the job. Risk has been the common thread throughout, and it still shapes how I handle sensitive work today.
Forensic mental health training
My specialist interest was the most complex and high-risk presentations in secure settings, how staff attitudes shape institutional change, and systems theory, which still underpins how I approach complex infrastructure today.
I completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Working with People with Personality Disorder at the University of Nottingham's Institute of Mental Health (2013–2015), funded by the Ministry of Justice (NOMS) and validated by The Open University.
As a KUF (Knowledge and Understanding Framework) trainer and consultant, I co-delivered the training programme evaluated in Brown, Beeley, Patel & Völlm (2018), Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 28(1), 50–60, part of the University of Nottingham IONNA project on forensic case formulation (see also Völlm 2014; Brown & Völlm 2013; Brown & Völlm 2016).
Between 2010 and 2012 I delivered KUF training to staff in the Personality Disorder Directorate at Broadmoor Hospital, and contributed to the development of its Recovery College through service-user involvement. I presented at the UK Critical Psychiatry Network conference alongside leading colleagues from the Institute of Mental Health, and helped develop and pilot KUF packages with Emergence, probation services in Yorkshire and Humber, and Staffordshire and West Midlands Probation Trust. I also took part in Circles of Support and Accountability with the Lucy Faithfull Foundation.
The rigour of forensic case formulation translates directly to risk analysis and systems work: precise reasoning, careful records, and no assumptions left untested.
Security research
Incidents I have investigated first-hand, written up as forensic case studies.
Selected work
ServeLogic
A multi-tenant ordering platform for independent restaurants, with ChooseTakeaway and NutriScan built on top. Custom domain routing, geospatial delivery tracking, one unified data layer.
Strathearn Hosting
Managed hosting from Perthshire, run with the same monitoring and discipline as everything else I operate.
busfactor
A quiet safeguard, named for the old engineering question: what happens to your work if you're hit by a bus? You check in; if you ever stop, the people you trust receive your handover. Released as open source, free for anyone who creates with technology, or hosted if you'd rather not run it yourself.
DirectQR
A self-hostable, privacy-first QR generator. No tracking, all processing local.
Global Bad Day
An open-source world map correlating GDP shifts, news sentiment, market falls and weather anomalies.
Radio and hardware
Licensed amateur radio operator (2M0DDX). WSPR transmitters with NTP frequency calibration, ESP8266 motor controllers and other builds.
Credentials
- PGCert, Working with People with Personality Disorder, University of Nottingham2015
- Licensed insurance producer, nine US states · Member, Massachusetts Association of Insurance AgentsFormer
- Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate2026
- Google AI Professional Certificate2026
- Adult Instructor, Army Cadet ForceCurrent
Certificates and references available on request.
Contact
Most new work comes by introduction. If you have been referred, or think the practice might suit you, please get in touch and I will reply personally, usually within a working day.