Cyber Essentials

Cyber Essentials is a Government backed scheme that helps you to protect your business, whatever the size or sector, against the most common cyber-attacks. It’s simple to use and effective.

In a 2022 Government report, 39% of UK businesses identified a cyber-attack within the last 12 months.

“Of the 39% of UK businesses who identified an attack, the most common threat vector was phishing attempts (83%). Of the 39%, around one in five (21%) identified a more sophisticated attack type such as a denial of service, malware, or ransomware attack. Despite its low prevalence, organisations cited ransomware as a major threat, with 56% of businesses having a policy not to pay ransoms.”

The Government estimates that, depending on the business size, the cost of fixing an attack could be anywhere between just over £4k and nearly £20k. Up to 80% of attacks could have been prevented if organisations had employed the correct security controls.

For some sectors, such as care or education, safeguarding online information cannot be stressed enough. In July 2022 alone, almost a billion user records were leaked.

There are two levels of certification:

1. Cyber Essentials

Becoming certified will give you the confidence and assurance that your defences will protect against most cyber-attacks. The vast majority of attacks seek out targets which aren’t protected by Cyber Essentials technical controls.

Cyber Essentials teaches you how to address those basics and therefore how to prevent the most common cyber threats.

2. Cyber Essentials Plus

Cyber Essentials Plus requires a more hands-on technical verification. It carries the same simple approach as Cyber Essentials, but advances things a few steps further.

Is Your Business Protected?

Here at Bespoke Computing, we offer a free headline audit and paid-for in-depth audit for positioning, recommendations of improvements to achieve the certification, and to help with implementing the right solutions where necessary.

We’ll ask you some basic questions during a phone call, followed by an in-person visit to your business site to analyse how your business measures up against the NCSC recommendations.

Recommendations and advisories will be provided, where necessary, so your business can adopt a robust cyber security position moving forward.

Why Get Assessed?

  • To reassure your customers that you are working to secure your IT against cyber attack
  • To attract new business with the promise you have cyber security measures in place
  • To give you a clear picture of your organisation’s cyber security level
  • Some Government contracts require Cyber Essentials certification.

What the Audit Includes

We will review six security control categories, equating to a total of 54 crucial items in the following areas:

  • Firewalls and Gateways
  • Secure Configuration
  • Access Control
  • Endpoint Protection
  • Patch Management
  • Backup, Continuity and Recovery
Complete the form below to undertake our Cyber Essentials Readiness Assessment, in order to audit your current security position and get recommendations and advisories to help you adopt a robust cyber security position in future.

Related Blog Posts

Menu