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Cyber Essentials

Cyber Essentials is an excellent way to protect your business

Are you looking for ways to secure your business from some of the most common cyber threats? Can you demonstrate to customers that you can be trusted to keep their data secure?

Small and medium size entities have spent on average between £8,000 and £13,000 in response to cyber-attacks that could be preventable.* In response to these threats, we recommend all organisations should aspire to achieve the Cyber Essentials Plus certification.

Why not begin your Cyber Essentials journey today with PKF Francis Clark and provide your customers, suppliers and directors the peace of mind that you are actively working towards a more secure future for your business. We are a certification body registered with the governing body, IASME and are therefore perfectly placed to support you and your business. From as little as £300+ VAT, you could begin taking positive steps towards securing your business.

What is Cyber Essentials?

Cyber Essentials is a Government-backed certification scheme that was launched in 2014. It was refreshed in 2022 to take into consideration the increased use of cloud services, home working arrangements and much more. This certification is becoming ever more important for businesses of all sizes and is a prerequisite in many tendering processes.

The Cyber Essentials standard covers five key technical controls to support the protection of your organisation from the external threats:

Firewalls
Secure configuration
User access control
Malware protection
Patch management

Two levels of certification: Self-assessed and audited

Self-assessed

Cyber Essentials (self-assessed) is the first step in the Cyber Essentials scheme. This certification is obtained through a self-assessment questionnaire and can be achieved from £300* + VAT if your organisation already meets the required standards. Once achieved, you are able to place the logo on your website for marketing purposes. You will also be recognised and registered on the National Cyber Security Centre’s (NCSC) website.

Where your systems do not currently meet the Cyber Essentials standards, we can advise and support you to implement the required improvements. We can provide as much or as little support as you require. We are here to support you and your business achieve its potential.

Audited

Cyber Essentials Plus (audited) is the next step in the Cyber Essentials scheme, and can be achieved from just £1500 + VAT if your organisation already meets the required standards. We are able to provide independent assurance over your business’ technical controls by testing your devices (laptops, mobiles, etc.). This can be performed on-site or remotely – we adapt to meet your business’ needs and recognise that the health and safety of your workforce in this working world is of paramount importance. The technical assessment we perform includes a systems security audit and vulnerability scans to help identify any gaps in your defences.

Please note that in order to be awarded Cyber Essentials Plus certification, you must achieve Cyber Essentials Plus within 90 days of passing the Cyber Essentials (self-assessed) certification.