What Is It?
Cyber Essentials is a government backed scheme that will help you to protect your organisation, whatever its size, against a whole range of the most common cyber attacks.
Cyber attacks come in many shapes and sizes, but the vast majority are very basic in nature, carried out by relatively unskilled individuals. They’re the digital equivalent of a thief trying your front door to see if it’s unlocked. Our advice is designed to prevent these attacks.
The self-assessment option gives you protection against a wide variety of the most common cyber attacks. This is important because vulnerability to basic attacks can mark you out as target for more in-depth unwanted attention from cyber criminals and others.
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.
Why Should You Get Cyber Essentials?
Cyber Essentials is a set of basic technical controls organisations should have in place to protect themselves against common online security threats. It is suitable for all organisations, of any size, in any sector and it will help with the GDPR legal requirement for securing customer data
As well as helping to guard your organisation against cyber attack, Cyber Essentials demonstrates your commitment to cyber security to your customers and suppliers. The government requires all suppliers bidding for contracts involving the handling of certain sensitive and personal information to hold an up to date Cyber Essentials certificate.
The scheme was launched with backing from industry including the Federation of Small Businesses, the CBI and a number of insurance organisations which are offering incentives for businesses. Since then, 120,000 certificates have been awarded to businesses, charities, educational institutions and other organisations.
Cyber threats are just like any business risk. They need to be assessed then actions need to be taken to remove, mitigate or accept the risk. So, by implementing the five key controls under Cyber Essentials certification you will significantly reduce some of the risks.
The 5 Key Cyber Essential Controls
You can check if an organisation that you are looking to use the services of are certified by clicking on the link and doing a search: https://iasme.co.uk/cyber-essentials/ncsc-certificate-search/