In today’s digital age, cyber security isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s a must-have. Particularly for businesses in professional services, manufacturing, recruitment and retail, the pressure is on to achieve Cyber Essentials certification – not just to impress the top brass but to ensure a guarantee of robust digital defences to your customers.
Today we’re looking into what it takes to get ready for your Cyber Essentials audit and how an expert cyber partner can really help your business to get started on the journey to Cyber Essentials accreditation.
Understanding Cyber Essentials
Cyber Essentials is a UK government-backed scheme designed to help protect organisations against a wide range of the most common cyber attacks. The certification process necessitates a strong grasp of cyber security basics and the implementation of critical controls.
To ace your Cyber Essentials certification, your organisation needs to show competence in five key areas:
Boundary Firewalls and Internet Gateways: This involves setting up secure boundaries for your network connections, ensuring only authorised traffic gets through.
Secure Configuration: Your systems need to be configured for optimum security, reducing vulnerabilities.
User Access Control: Manage who can see and do what within your network, ensuring only necessary access is granted.
Patch Management: With cyber criminals looking to exploit flaws in any system, keeping up-to-date with vendor security patch releases and having a regular system in place for doing security updates is incredibly important.
Malware Protection: Implement robust defences against malicious software.
Patch Management: Stay on top of updates, ensuring your systems are armed against known vulnerabilities.
By having a competent handle on these five key areas across your business or organisation, you’re increasing your cyber security standing while significantly decreasing the likelihood of successful cyber attacks. Great for you, and great for clients and vendors you work alongside, too.
The benefits of Cyber Essentials
Customer reassurance
Being up-to-date with your Cyber Essentials certification tells customers that you are actively working to secure your IT against cyber attacks. In a world where phishing scams and ransomware is a very real threat to businesses and organisations, it’s seen as a real positive that you’re being proactive.
Attract new business
Who doesn’t love an official badge? As time goes on, more and more businesses and customers are actively looking to work with people who are Cyber Essentials certified, as a way to ensure and demonstrate their own dedication to best IT security practices. Seeing the Cyber Essentials logo displayed prominently is going to mean a big tick for many potential customers.
Build a clear picture of your cyber security level
As you can see, there are quite a few parts to becoming Cyber Essentials certified. However, they’re clear and methodical. By working through the requirements, you can build a clear picture of your business, where security could be stronger, and what you’re already doing well at. This can be quite a tough thing to do on your own, and Cyber Essentials provides a robust framework to give you a clear idea on direction.
Win government work
Some government contracts – in fact, most of them, require that businesses looking to win them are Cyber Essentials certified. If this is work you think you might like to pitch for in the future, it’s worth starting to look at getting certified now, as the process might take you a little longer than you might think – that way, you’ll have something ticked off of your list when you are ready to start pitching for government work.
With the constantly evolving nature of cyber threats and attacks growing in sophistication, the on-going nature of Cyber Essentials is also incredibly important to ensure your organisation’s security practices are constantly evolving to reflect threat levels.
Preparing for the Audit:
Let’s take it step-by-step. Unsure as to what the steps require? It might be time to call in a cyber security partner to help you through it.
Policy Review and Update: Ensure that your organisation has up-to-date policies in place, including a Password Policy, Internet Usage Policy, and Data Protection Policy, among others.
Gap Analysis: Conduct an internal review to identify any areas where your cyber defences may fall short of the scheme’s requirements.
Action Plan Development: Based on your gap analysis, develop a plan to address any shortcomings.
Implement Necessary Changes: This could include technical adjustments, policy updates, or employee training.
Internal Checks: Before the official assessment, run internal checks to ensure that all controls are in place and functioning correctly.
Engage with a Certification Body: For the official assessment, choose a certified body to evaluate your compliance with Cyber Essentials standards.
If this process seems daunting, fear not – a reliable cyber partner like Clearsky IT should be there to support businesses of any size in Wiltshire, Bath, Bristol and the southwest region. Our team can help guide you through each step of the certification process, ensuring that your business not only meets the standards but also establishes a culture of cyber security awareness and resilience.
Gearing up for your Cyber Essentials audit is a strategic move towards fortifying your business against cyber threats. With Clearsky IT by your side, you can navigate this journey confidently, knowing that your cyber security is in expert hands. Ready to start your journey towards Cyber Essentials certification? Reach out to us today for tailored support.
This website offers detailed information and updates on cyber security standards and practices in the UK: the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
