The UK government introduced the Cyber Essentials Certification scheme to encourage businesses to protect themselves against cyber attacks. Learn more about Cyber Essentials in this blog.
More than 80% of the cyber attacks that happened to UK businesses could have been prevented with the implementation of basic security controls. Just one of these viruses could result in huge loss of company data, affecting GDPR and lead to fines or prosecution.
Noting this, in 2014, the UK government introduced the Cyber Essentials Certification scheme to encourage businesses to protect themselves against cyber attacks.
Being in the IT solutions industry, Team Metalogic are Cyber Essentials approved. Plus, we can even help you achieve your Cyber Essentials credentials.
But what is Cyber Essentials? Keep reading to find out what it is, how to acquire the certification, and how we can help.
What is Cyber Essentials?
Cyber Essentials is a government-backed scheme that encourages businesses and organisations to adopt good practice in IT security. Cyber Essentials is operated by the National Cyber Security Centre, and it helps protect your organisation from both small and large cyber attacks.
Not only does Cyber Essentials help protect you, it also demonstrates your commitment to cyber security. Gaining a Cyber Essentials certification allows your organisation to showcase your credentials to your customers and client by highlighting that your IT is trustworthy and secure.
At Team Metalogic, we can do all the work for you to get your Cyber Essentials. The scheme is suitable for all organisations, of any size, in any sector, so no matter your industry, we’d be more than happy to help.
What is Cyber Essentials Certification?
A Cyber Essentials certification gives you the peace of mind that your defences will protect against the vast majority of common cyber attacks. Once you have a Cyber Essentials certification, you can publicise this on your business channels, such as your website, to let your clients know that your IT is secure.
A Cyber Essentials certification will help boost your reputation and give you a better chance of winning new business, because you will gain client trust. In addition, when you align yourself with a managed service provider such as Team Metalogic, this helps maintain your Cyber Essentials status over the year.
As part of Cyber Essentials, there are two different levels of certification you can acquire; Cyber Essentials, and Cyber Essentials Plus.
What is Cyber Essentials, and what’s the difference between the two certifications?
Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus have many similarities, including:
- They both give you protection against a wide variety of the most common cyber attacks
- They both show you how to address and prevent basic protection threats
- They both allow you to boost your reputation
- They both require you to put the same cyber protections in place
The only real difference between them is that acquiring Cyber Essentials Plus requires a technical verification to be carried out by an auditor, and Cyber Essentials doesn’t.
How to get Cyber Essentials?
Acquiring Cyber Essentials firstly requires you to decide which accreditation you are looking to achieve, the Cyber Essentials certification or the Cyber Essentials Plus certification, and purchase it.
We can help you acquire both levels of Cyber Essentials. Simply contact us and we’ll take care of everything that needs to be completed to allow you to receive your certification.
Following approval, the IASME Consortium will post out your certificate for Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus.
Acquiring Cyber Essentials Plus will take longer than Cyber Essentials because it requires an auditor to visit your office and check that your security is in accordance with the Cyber Essentials criteria.
Gaining a Cyber Essentials certification involves testing five technical controls within your IT infrastructure. These are:
- Firewalls
- Secure configuration
- User access control
- Malware protection
- Patch management
How long does Cyber Essentials last?
Now we’ve answered the question ‘what is cyber essentials’ and you know how to get it, you need to know how long it lasts.
Both Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus certifications are valid for one year. Following the end of your year, you are able to reapply for a new valid certification.
Again, if you work with us, don’t worry about having to redo this every 12 months. This is another benefit of choosing us to help with your Cyber Essentials certification – we’ll take care of it on an annual basis for you.
Contact us
A Cyber Essentials certification is a great thing to be able to shout about, to not only keep your IT safe and secure, but also to build trust with your clients.
We know, however, that acquiring a certificate can be time consuming and not where you want to focus your attention when you’re running your business.
That’s why we can do everything for you.
Get in touch with our team of experts to begin the process of acquiring your Cyber Essentials accreditation.