The team here at Intrasource are pleased to announce the renewal of our Cyber Essentials Plus Accreditation. Our Cyber Essentials Plus Accreditation gives our clients peace of mind that we have continued to hit the highest Cyber Essentials standards.
What is Cyber Essentials?
Cyber Essentials is a UK Government backed certification that helps businesses protect themselves against common cyber attacks. It is suitable for organisations of any size and proves to customers that they have at least the minimum precautions to protect them against cyber attacks.
The five key requirements in order to gain your Cyber Essential Certification include:
- Firewalls
- Secure configuration
- User access control
- Malware protection
- Security update management
It is essential that your organisation meets all five of these technical controls in order to become Cyber Essentials Certified. The IASME has developed a Cyber Essentials Readiness Tool on behalf of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) that includes a series of questions to help prepare you for the certification process.
What is Cyber Essentials Plus?
Cyber Essentials Plus is the highest level of certification achievable in the Cyber Essentials scheme. It still requires the completion of the Cyber Essentials self-assessment questionnaire, however, it also requires an independent technical audit to be carried out by an external auditor.
The external auditor will perform an audit by testing a random sample of computers. The auditor will run vulnerability scans on the random sample to confirm patching and basic configuration. They also check for no apparent misconfigurations or vulnerabilities.
How Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus can benefit your business:
- Proves you have at least the minimum of basic security controls in place
- Shows that you actively try to mitigate the risk of security threats
- You have a clear indication of your organisation’s level of cybersecurity
- Some contracts require you to have a Cyber Essentials Certification
If you want to make sure that internet-based threats can’t ripple down your supply chain, it’s always a good idea to not only make sure that your organisation passes the certification but that you also work with organisations with industry-backed Cyber Essentials Accreditations.
Cyber Essentials FAQs:
How long does it take to get your cyber essentials certification?
Once you have submitted your self-assessment and had it internally verified, it usually takes 1-3 working days to get the results of your assessment.
Can you get cyber essentials plus without cyber essentials?
Although you do not need to pay twice to get your Cyber Essentials Plus, you do need to pass all the requirements of the Cyber Essentials Assessment (and more) to gain Cyber Essentials Plus Accreditation.
How long does cyber essentials plus last?
All Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus Certifications are valid for 12 months.
The team at Intrasource have many years of experience in helping businesses pass their Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus Accreditations. We can test and maintain your IT Infrastructure to ensure that you meet the requirements needed to pass. Call us today on 01482 628800 to arrange a pre-assessment.
