What is Cyber Essentials?
Cyber Essentials is a scheme developed by the UK Government to create a security baseline standard for organisations of all sizes in the UK. Certification is valid for one year and needs to be renewed annually to ensure your organisation is still meeting these standards.
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The scheme is aligned to five technical controls and certification demonstrates that an organisation is protecting itself by implementing the most important cyber security controls.
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Cyber Essentials certification also includes automatic cyber liability insurance for any organisation that certifies their entire organisation has less than £20m annual turnover.
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Cyber Essentials is available in two levels:
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Cyber Essentials (Self-Certification)
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Cyber Essentials Plus (Hands-On Audit)
Cyber Essentials is an independently verified self-assessment. It takes the format of a questionnaire that addresses the scope, employees, devices and work location of the organisation.
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The answers then need to be signed off by a independent assessor before certification can be granted.
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The cost of certification varies depending on the number of employees in your organisation.
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0-9 Employees | £320 + VAT
10-49 Employees | £440 + VAT
50-249 Employees | £500 + VAT
250+ Employees | £600 + VAT
Cyber Essentials Plus is a technical audit of your organisations IT systems. Organisations must have successfully completed the Cyber Essentials certification before becoming certified in Cyber Essentials Plus.
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Based on the same technical requirements, Cyber Essentials Plus also includes a technical audit to verify that the controls are in place.
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The audit will cover a representative set of user devices, servers, and Internet gateways.
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Cyber Essentials Plus is priced according to the size and complexity of your network. Contact Netko IT for more details.
The Cyber Essentials Readiness Tool
IASME is the National Cyber Security Centre's official Cyber Essentials delivery partner, and is the organisation Netko IT has chosen to use.
IASME has developed a Readiness Tool which is a series of questions designed to lead you through the core elements of the Cyber Essentials requirements. If there are areas where you need to put more controls in place, you will be directed to guidance on how to make those changes.
The Readiness Tool is the first step to take before taking the Cyber Essentials self-assessment. To start the Readiness Tool, click on the link below:​