What is Cyber Essentials?

Cyber Essentials is a simple and effective Government backed scheme that will help you protect your organisation against a range of the most common cyber attacks.
From the small scale startup to the established and growing business, Cyber Essentials will help you avoid the consequences of such things as:
  • Phishing attacks
  • Malware
  • Ransomeware
  • Password Guessing
  • Network attacks

Two levels of confidence

The NCSC works in partnership with The IASME Consortium to deliver Cyber Essentials, ensuring that the scheme
continues to evolve to meet the cyber security challenges of the future.

Cyber Essentials self-assessment is a first step towards helping you protect your business from the most common cyber attacks. The process is simple and certification costs around £300.

Cyber Essentials Plus still has the Cyber Essentials trademark simplicity of approach, and the protections you need to put in place are the same, but for Cyber Essentials Plus a hands-on technical verification is carried out.

How does Cyber Essentials work?

Cyber Essentials sets out five controls which you can implement immediately to strengthen your cyber defences:

Use a firewall to secure your internet connection

Choose the most secure settings for your devices and software

Control who has access to your data and services

Protect yourself from viruses and other malware

Keep your devices and software up to date

Is Cyber Essentials for you?

Businesses of all shapes and sizes use Cyber Essentials to help protect their IT from attack. You could too. No matter what your organisation does, Cyber Essentials can help to keep the devices and data you rely on safe. We understand that not everyone has a dedicated IT department, or an in-depth knowledge of cyber security. Cyber Essentials has been designed to be flexible, taking into account all types and sizes of organisation. Certification will reassure current and potential customers that you take cyber security seriously.