Cyber Essentials
Show Your Clients Your Business Takes Security Seriously
Cyber Essentials is a UK government backed certification that demonstrates your business has the fundamental cybersecurity controls in place to protect against the most common online threats. Whether you are pursuing certification for the first time or renewing year on year, we guide you through the process.
Why Cyber Essentials Is Becoming a Business Necessity
Cyber Essentials started as a government initiative to raise the baseline of cybersecurity across UK businesses. It has since become much more than that. An increasing number of organisations, particularly in the public sector, require suppliers to hold Cyber Essentials certification before they will work with them. Insurers are beginning to factor certification status into their risk assessments and premiums.
For businesses that have never formally assessed their cybersecurity posture, the Cyber Essentials process is also genuinely valuable in its own right. The five technical controls it covers, secure configuration, boundary firewalls, access control, malware protection and patch management, address the most common vulnerabilities that attackers exploit.
Achieving certification does not require a large IT team or a significant budget. What it requires is a clear understanding of what the standard demands and the right support to make sure your systems meet it. That is exactly what we provide.
Gap Assessment Before You Apply
We review your current security posture against the Cyber Essentials requirements before you submit your application. This identifies any gaps that need to be addressed and ensures you apply with confidence rather than guessing whether you will pass.
Remediation Managed for You
Where gaps are identified, we help you address them. Whether that means updating configurations, tightening access controls or implementing missing technical controls, we manage the remediation process so you are not left to figure it out alone.
Ongoing Certification Support
Cyber Essentials certification needs to be renewed annually. We support you through each renewal, keeping your systems in line with the requirements and making the process straightforward year after year.
Certification Without the Confusion
The Cyber Essentials requirements are clear in principle but can be difficult to interpret in the context of your specific IT environment. What counts as a boundary firewall for a business using cloud services? How should mobile devices be handled? These are the kinds of questions that catch businesses out during the application process.
At AOIT, we have guided a number of businesses through Cyber Essentials certification and understand where the common sticking points are. We translate the requirements into practical action for your specific environment, handle the technical preparation and make sure your application reflects your actual security posture accurately.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Cyber Essentials is a UK government backed cybersecurity certification scheme that helps businesses demonstrate they have the fundamental controls in place to protect against common online threats. It covers five key areas: firewalls and boundary controls, secure configuration, access control, malware protection and patch management.
Cyber Essentials is based on a self-assessment questionnaire in which you confirm that the required controls are in place. Cyber Essentials Plus includes an independent technical audit of your systems to verify those controls, providing a higher level of assurance.
For businesses supplying to the UK government or handling certain types of government data, Cyber Essentials certification is required. Beyond that, it is not a legal requirement, but it is increasingly expected by clients and insurers across a range of sectors.
The timeline varies depending on your current security posture and how much preparation is needed. For businesses whose systems are already broadly in line with the requirements, the process can be completed in a matter of weeks. We give you a realistic assessment of the timeline during our initial review.
The questionnaire covers the five technical controls at the heart of Cyber Essentials: boundary firewalls and internet gateways, secure configuration of systems and software, user access control, malware protection and patch management. We help you complete this accurately.
Certification is valid for twelve months and must be renewed annually. We manage the renewal process for our partners, keeping your systems in line with the requirements and making each renewal as straightforward as the first.
For most small and medium sized businesses, the standard Cyber Essentials certification is sufficient. Cyber Essentials Plus provides a higher level of assurance through independent verification and may be required or preferred by certain clients or public sector contracts.
The certification fee itself is set by the scheme and varies depending on the size of your business. Any additional cost depends on how much preparation your systems need beforehand. We assess this during our initial review and give you a clear picture of the full cost before you commit.
Is Cyber Essentials the Next Step for Your Business?
Whether you have a specific deadline to meet or simply want to put the right foundations in place, we can help you get there. Get in touch and we will assess where you currently stand and map out what certification would involve for your business.