We are often asked by our clients, ‘Why is Cyber Essentials important?’ and do we need Cyber Essentials Certification? Whether you need the Cyber Essentials accreditation or not completely depends on your business and business case but if you are looking to improve your Cybersecurity then you should definitely consider choosing Cyber essentials accreditation/certification framework.
Regardless of whether you will achieve the accreditation or not we recommend you adopt the framework methodology to get the basics of Cybersecurity right in your organisation. Here are a few reasons on why you need Cyber Essentials accreditation.
It protects your organisation
By implementing the controls specified in Cyber Essentials certification you can protect your organisation from 85% of the most common cyber attacks. Cyber Essentials covers the essentials of Cybersecurity, likes of Patching, Malware management, secure configuration, firewalls, policies, user access controls, etc, which are fundamental blocks of Cybersecurity. If you get these right you are giving yourself a better chance of protecting your business.
Gives you a competitive advantage
Nowadays most tenders are asking suppliers whether they have the Cyber Essentials certification for the business. Rather than waiting for a tender to ask this question, be proactive and show your commitment to cybersecurity. Create that extra confidence for the customer. Show your commitment to cybersecurity and achieve the advantage over your competitors who may not have thought about this. Stay ahead of the competition.
Government contracts
Cyber Essentials is becoming mandatory to tender for any government work. If you tender for Ministry of Defence (MoD) work then it is mandatory. For most of these contracts you will be handling employees personal & sensitive information and as such you will need to have proper security controls in place. Having Cyber Essentials accreditation is a way of showing you have what it needs.
Is Cyber Essentials Mandatory?
Cyber Essentials is mandatory for all the MOD and central government work. Although rest of the public sector and private sectors haven’t made Cyber Essentials a mandatory requirement for suppliers most businesses are moving in that direction. More often than not we are finding many businesses asking their supply chain to have at least Cyber Essentials certification to tender for the work. Especially if the work deals with personal information.
Conclusion
The UK government has introduced Cyber Essentials in 2014 after evaluating the past cyber attacks and thinking about the possible prevention strategies. Achieving Cyber Essentials certification will ensure you have the controls in place to protect your organisation from common cyber attacks. Not to mention for government tenders Cyber Essentials is becoming a mandatory requirement. The process of achieving the Cyber Essentials certification is fairly straightforward in most cases. However, if you need any help get in touch with us.
