What is Cyber Essentials, and does my business need it?

NP are Cyber Essentials certified and we have helped a number of our clients to gain the accreditation. Not every business is aware of the scheme, so we wanted to take the time to go over the key details:

What is Cyber Essentials?

Cyber Essentials is a government backed certification that gives your business the opportunity to demonstrate that it meets certain security benchmarks. These range from having correct IT processes in place to ensuring all systems are up to date and secure. 

There are two types of Cyber Essentials accreditation. Cyber Essentials is gained through a self assessment. Cyber Essentials Plus follows the same guidelines, but your business must be independently audited to ensure answers provided are correct.

Why would we need Cyber Essentials?

Being Cyber Essentials certified gives your customers confidence that you take IT security seriously and are able to securely process their data. Many commercial tenders (both government and private sector) now state that the winning party must be Cyber Essentials certified.

How do I Pass?

The self-assessment consists of eight sections and around ninety questions. As an NP client we will be happy to assist in completion of the assessment as part of the consultancy included within your support agreement.

If your business requires hardware updates or new systems in order to be Cyber Essentials compliant then we would look to identify and quote for these prior to purchase and undertaking of the assessment.

How Much Does It Cost?

The Cyber Essentials assessment is purchased through IASME, which is the governments designated partner for delivery of the scheme. You can find a full price list below:

https://iasme.co.uk/cyber-essentials/

If you are still confused, or considering going ahead with Cyber Essentials but need help with the assessment, let us know by using our website contact form, or reaching out through our social media channels or the phone.