Cyber Essentials
Improve staff training and minimise the risk of a data breach with Cyber Essentials certification delivered by APH.
What is Cyber Essentials certification?
Cyber Essentials is a certification scheme backed by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). This government-backed accreditation is a way to demonstrate that your business has met all of the standards of the Cyber Essentials Framework.
There are two levels of certification:
- Cyber Essentials is a self-assessed certificate that guides you through eliminating vulnerabilities and securing your systems against common cyber threats
- Cyber Essentials Plus includes an independant hands-on technical verification which must take place once all of the criteria of the initial Cyber Essentials assessment are met
Gaining Cyber Essentials certification demonstrates that your business has taken action to mitigate cyber risks, which is useful to include in marketing materials. Some government contracts also require you to hold a valid Cyber Essentials certificate.
Certification lasts for 12 months and current Cyber Essentials certificate-holding companies are listed on the NCSC website for verification.
The terms of accreditation change from time to time, so it’s important to have consultants like APH on-hand to advise on gaining or renewing Cyber Essentials certificates.
What are the features of Cyber Essentials?
APH offers end-to-end Cyber Essentials certification, from helping you with your initial application, to providing ongoing support to keep all of your employees working to the standard and, ultimately, to avoid future cyber risks.
Our consultants deliver Cyber Essentials support in multiple stages:
- Define the scope of assessment (usually the whole business)
- Audit existing cyber security and provide an action plan for targeted improvements
- Implement these changes, including specific protection against Dark Web threats
- Guide you through to gaining initial Cyber Essentials certification
- Optional Cyber Essentials Part 2 with ongoing support to maintain compliance
Cyber Essentials allows you to empower your own workforce with better awareness of cyber threats, how to spot and resist them, and what to do in the event of a cyber security incident.
More than this, Cyber Essentials gives you a recognised certificate that you can include on promotional materials, showing potential customers that you have taken the necessary action in-house to prepare for and mitigate against future security risks.
Do I need Cyber Essentials for my business?
Cyber Essentials is an all-around excellent way for businesses of all sizes to tackle the most important and immediate aspects of closing security vulnerabilities, improving staff awareness of cyber risks, and demonstrating those commitments to customers.
In gaining your Cyber Essentials certificate, you raise security standards across your entire organisation, while achieving government-backed, widely recognised accreditation.
For businesses that work with the government, Cyber Essentials certification can be literally essential, as a prerequisite to tender for many government contracts.
And with the support of APH, you can ensure that your workforce remains fully compliant with Cyber Essentials over time, to keep security levels high and to adapt to any changes in the assessment for future years too.
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Enquire about Cyber Essentials for your business
If you have any further interest in our Cyber Essentials services please get in touch and our expert technicians will be happy to help.
