Cyber Essentials Celebrates 10 Year Anniversary and the Importance of Cyber Security Certification

This week, Cyber Essentials is celebrating its 10th anniversary and to mark this occasion; the UK government has published the Cyber Essentials Impact Evaluation report, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the scheme in enhancing the cyber security of businesses and organizations. The report shows that over 85% of users have reported a better understanding of cyber risks and there have been 92% fewer insurance claims with the Cyber Essentials controls in place.

TecSec Services, as an official Assured Service Partner with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and a Certification Body of the Information Assurance for Small and Medium Enterprises (IASME); is extremely proud to have been part of this journey.  TecSec has been a fully qualified certification body since 2017 and currently employs 5 certified assessors within the business.

IASME has recently published the Cyber Essentials 10th Anniversary Brochure, showcasing the scheme’s role in helping to build the UK’s cyber resilience as well as offering a comprehensive review of the schemes progress over the last decade, key data and statistics, and highlighting the growing community of Certification Bodies and Cyber Advisors.

As a licensed Certification Body and Assured Service Provider, TecSec is well-equipped to assist clients in achieving certifications including Cyber Essentials, Cyber Essentials Plus, and IASME Cyber Assured Level One and Two.

If you are seeking to enhance the cyber security of your business or have your IT monitored (24/7) and managed by qualified security professionals, please do not hesitate to get in touch.  Take a look at our advanced cyber security services and governance & compliance services we offer.

What does Cyber Essentials cover?

Cyber Essentials was developed to help protect organisations of any size against the most common internet-originating cyber attacks. This includes attacks carried out by individuals who may or may not have limited technical expertise, using tools and techniques readily available on the internet.

There are two levels of Cyber Essentials certification:

  • Cyber Essentials – the basic, verified self-assessment option. The scheme is centred around five technical control areas designed to significantly reduce the impact of common cyber attacks.   These five technical controls include

    1. Boundary firewalls and internet gateways: protecting against unauthorised access.
    2. Secure configuration: ensuring systems are configured securely.
    3. Access control: controlling who can access systems and data.
    4. Malware protection: protecting against malware and viruses.
    5. Patch management: keeping software up-to-date.

  • Cyber Essentials Plus – this takes the same approach and is based on the same five technical control areas, with the addition of independent testing and sampling of the organisation’s infrastructure to verify compliance. If successful, this results in the award of a certificate valid for one year, i.e. certification is renewed annually..

The Cyber Essentials scheme is gaining momentum, with over 190,000 Cyber Essentials certificates awarded to businesses and organizations to date, including 43,480 issued in the past year alone.

For more information on Cyber Essentials take a look at our Cyber Essentials Guide.