Cyber Essentials is a UK Government-backed scheme that helps organisations protect themselves against the most common types of cyber attack. It’s the baseline standard for cyber hygiene expected by UK businesses of every size, and it’s increasingly required for government contracts, supply-chain partnerships, and sector-specific panels.
What Cyber Essentials covers
The scheme focuses on five technical control areas:
- Firewalls and internet gateways, protecting the boundary between your network and the internet
- Secure configuration, making sure devices and software are set up safely out of the box
- User access control, giving people the minimum access they need to do their job
- Malware protection, detecting and blocking malicious software
- Security update management, keeping software and firmware patched
How certification works
Cyber Essentials certification is issued through IASME, the government’s sole Cyber Essentials Partner. Certification is valid for 12 months. A more demanding version, Cyber Essentials Plus, adds an independent technical audit on top of the self-assessment.
Why UK businesses need it
- Mandatory for most central government contracts
- Increasingly required by law firm lender panels, accountancy networks like St. James’s Place, and NHS supply chains
- Mandatory for state-funded schools under the DfE cyber security standards
- Often a precondition for cyber insurance
- A recognised trust signal for clients and partners
How we help
Equate Group takes businesses through Cyber Essentials end to end, gap analysis, remediation, self-assessment completion, and certification. See our cyber security service for detail, or read how we took Ennvee Financial Consultants through CE and CE Plus certification to meet their SJP partnership requirements.