Cyber Essentials Certification
Cyber Essentials helps you to guard your organisation against cyber attack.
The scheme assesses five technical controls:
- Boundary firewalls and internet gateways
That you have a secure internet connection. - Secure configuration
That you have the most secure settings turned on on all your company devices. - User access control
That you have full control over who is accessing your data and services. - Malware protection
That you have protection in place against viruses and malware. - Patch management
That your devices and software are updated with the latest versions.
The Cyber Essentials certification process is the first step to cyber security in the UK. It outlines the security controls organisations must have to protect their data.
Once you understand these basic controls and have them in place, you must fill out a questionnaire confirming your devices meet these criteria.
This is a self-assessment which you then sign and submit for review by a certification body.
Why should you get Cyber Essentials?
The Cyber Essentials Scheme (and the Cyber Plus Certification in particular) is an excellent way to show your customers that you take their security seriously.
Cyber Essentials helps you to guard against the most common cyber threats and demonstrate your commitment to cyber security.
The main advantage of Cyber Essentials
Is there a real benefit to earning Cyber Essentials certification?
If you would like to bid for central government contracts which involve handling sensitive and personal information or the provision of certain technical products and services, you will require Cyber Essentials Certification.
Cyber Essentials is for all organisations of all sizes, and in all sectors. Certification gives you peace of mind that your defences will protect against the vast majority of common cyber attacks simply because these attacks are looking for targets which do not have the Cyber Essentials technical controls in place.