Cyber Essentials
What is Cyber Essentials?
Cyber Essentials is a Government-backed scheme that helps organisations get the basic cybersecurity requirement for their size of business. The Cyber Essentials certification gives you protection against the most common cyber threats to your organisation. This can include unpatched software and hardware, lack of strong passwords and employee understanding of security risks and poor cyber security policies in place. This is vital, because if your defences end up getting breached through a basic cyber attack such as a phishing scam, you will become a prime target for more attacks.
This certification helps avoid that happening by ensuring you have the right security controls in place.
What are the 5 Cyber Essentials security controls?
Firewalls
All devices must be connected to the internet via a firewall.
Secure configuration
Ensuring applications settings are monitored and updated.
User access control
Users should only have access to the applications and software they need to do their roles.
Patch management
Ensuring that not only devices but operating systems are up to date.
Malware protection
Every device used by your organisation needs to have protection against viruses and malware.
Reasons your organisation needs Cyber Essentials
As well as providing the framework to keep your organisation secure, gaining Cyber Essentials offers a host of other assurances:
- Let your customers and suppliers know that you are taking the appropriate measures to stay cyber secure
- Give everyone that you work with peace of mind that their information is safe with you
- Keeps you aware of where your organisation lies when it comes to cybersecurity defences
- Attract more prospects as some contracts require you to have a Cyber Essentials certification
- You can plan for the future as cyber essentials is designed to thwart off most of the most common cyber attacks that could otherwise cripple your business
Simply put, not having a Cyber Essentials certification is the equivalent of leaving your front door unlocked.
Want to know more about Cyber Essentials?
Read our blog to learn why you need it and what it takes to get your organisation certified.
Read the blog hereGet Cyber Essentials certified with TSG
With TSG we’ll get your organisation in a position to apply for Cyber Essentials within 2 days.
We’ll assess your current cybersecurity estate and policies and produce a report outlining where you currently are.
We will then set out any remediation work required to gain certification, advising you of any additional work that creeps outside the 2 days, to ensure that you’re fully ready to be certified and avoid any disappointment.
Annual Recertification
Annual assurance service days are built in every 3 months in the run up to getting your annual certification. Over time, these days can also be used in other ways to help keep you protected, such as vulnerability scans.
We will use our technical experts to ensure you are compliant each year, as the Cyber Essential standard evolves with the ever-changing technical environment.
With any remaining time, we may also be able to advise you on how you can complete your cyber insurance policy application, as we know these can be quite laborious to understand.
With this, we’re able to help you to retain your certification and insurance every year.
Why TSG?
We are one of a few IT providers in the UK that has IASME certified consultants: this means that we’re well equipped to get a company through than many competitors.
We help you get through the self-assessment criteria/questionnaire upon first application so there’s no guesswork – only the right criteria.
Learn more about TSG Learn more about our cybersecurity services