Don’t go into a Cyber Essentials assessment without knowing if you’re ready. We audit your controls first, so you know exactly where you stand before you start
More UK contracts now have a Cyber Essentials need attached. Public sector buyers ask for it. And more private sector clients along the supply chain want to see evidence. If you can’t show your certificate, you could lose out on contract before you even get going.
Cyber Essentials is a scheme backed by the Government. It checks you have five basic security controls in place in your systems:
You might already have some of this in place. But you have a gap between having it and being able to show the evidence in a way that can be properly assessed.
Netcentrix can help you put the evidence together you need to prove you’re Cyber Essentials compliant, finding every software licence and hardware on your estate.
We’ll assess your current setup against what’s set out in the scheme. Once we’ve got everything we can tell you what needs fixing and in what order to prioritise it. You get a clear picture of where your estate stands.
You’ll be able to see where you’re already compliant, what needs work before you submit anything, and where you could potentially get tripped up.
Our aim is to get you in a position where you can go into your Cyber Essentials formal assessment already confident you meet all the requirements.
Both certifications cover the same five controls. But Cyber Essentials is self-assessed. You fill out a questionnaire, it’s reviewed by a licensed assessor and you get your certificate. This proves you’ve got the right controls in place.
Cyber Essentials Plus is independently verified. Assessors test your systems directly, including carrying out a vulnerability scan and samples of your devices. It does cost more and takes longer but has more weight behind it when you’re asked for proof.
Realistically Cyber Essentials is enough in most situations. High value public sector work, supply chains involving defence and some insurers will name Plus as a requirement. If you’re not sure which you need, our consultants can give you some guidance.
Either way our Cyber Essentials audit prepares you for both assessments.
Your assessment covers the five control areas. We’ll work through each, checking what you’ve got and flag anything you need to fix.
We check your firewalls sitting between your network and the internet, plus software firewalls on individual devices. The biggest problems we usually find here are default passwords, open ports and unmanaged rules. But these are mostly quick fixes.
The broadest control area and where we see most fail on the smaller details. We’ll look at how your devices and cloud services are set up, what’s running that shouldn’t be (or doesn’t need to be) and whether anything is still causing a risk on default factory settings.
We check every account with access to your data so we can clearly see who has access to what, whether admin rights are limited to the people who really need them and whether multifactor authentication is switched on where Cyber Essentials needs it to be.
Buying antivirus doesn’t automatically pass this control. Cyber Essentials asks about coverage, configuration and whether it works on every device within the scope. We’ll check it all.
Unpatched software is the biggest reason we see Cyber Essentials submissions fail because estates have grown out of control. The scheme expects critical updates have been applied within a set time on every device.
We’ve been supporting UK businesses with their IT for nearly 30 years. Your audit is done by the same people who’ll help you fix what we find.
91% of faults are fixed within the first attempt
Above industry average CSAT Score
You can rely on a quick answer to your support request
93% of customers rated us good or excellent
We assess all the five control areas against the scheme’s current version and requirements
Get an ordered list of what needs fixing starting with the most urgent fails
We’ll work out which devices, cloud services and users are inside your assessment to begin with
If you need us to fix any gaps, we can. Or we can provide detailed briefs to your in-house IT team.
Your Cyber Essentials certification lasts 12 months. We flag what will need your attention before you get to that point.
Since seamlessly moving to the cloud, LED Leisure have managed to save in the region of £100,000 on costs and now have a flexible set-up where they can open pop-up sites with ease. Check out the video to see how this was achieved.
Certification is now a condition of a lot of public sector contracts and more private contracts are asking for it.
We’ll tell you what’s wrong while you’ve got the time to fix it instead of waiting for an assessment to fail you.
Enforcing the five controls under Cyber Essentials closes a lot of security gaps and reduces your risk.
Failing a submission can cost weeks of fixing problems that could have been dealt with ahead of time. Going in prepared means you spend less time dealing with feedback before getting certified.
We’ll tell you what to review ahead of your Cyber Essentials certificate expiring so you don’t have any gaps.
Supporting customers with their technology needs for almost 30 years.
“I would absolutely recommend working with Netcentrix, as they take the time to understand your business. The level of expertise shown by the team is great…”
Charis
“Netcentrix have come through every time for me, in terms of quality of product, price of product and the delivery of that product.”
LED Leisure
“The Netcentrix team is very professional, they work out what the business needs and come up with the right solution at the best price. That’s why I go back to them; I trust their judgement.”
Castle Spring Group
“Netcentrix have provided us with outstanding support for the last 12 months. We have used other companies in the past and Netcentrix clearly understand our requirements more than others we have used.”
Alfa Travel
“Netcentrix quickly responded to my call for help. They contacted me promptly and resolved the issue in a supportive way.”
Let Me Play Limited
“Netcentrix provided exceptional IT consultancy services! Their knowledgeable team quickly addressed our needs with tailored solutions, ensuring our systems ran smoothly. Highly professional and responsive—highly recommend!”
Roxor Group
Find out where you stand before committing to an official assessment. FIll in the form or give us a call to discuss your setup with Stuart, who’ll arrange a free consultation.
Explore some key Cyber Essentials FAQs
Your costs are the certification fee (paid to a licensed certification body) and the cost of preparing your submission. Fees tend to vary between organisations based on size and which certification you’re going for.
The costs of preparing your submissions depends on how close you are to meeting the requirements and how much you need to change. Our audit can give you a clear idea of how close you are so you can accurately forecast a cost.
12 months. You’ll need to recertify every year and the requirements could change depending on which version of the scheme is in force.
Most of the renewal work is just making sure nothing’s drifted since you last got certified (like new devices, new starters, new cloud services or unpatched software getting into your system).
Most certification bodies turn the self-assessment round pretty quickly. Most of the extra time comes from how long it takes you to make any fixes. If you’ve got most things in place already it could only take a few days. If our audit finds any unsupported software, missing multi-factor authentication or rogue devices, that could take more time.
It also covers all the devices and services you use to access data:
You’ll need it if you’re bidding on Government contracts involving sensitive or personal information. Outside that many private businesses handling sensitive data or even some insurers are insisting on Cyber Essentials for businesses along supply chains.
No. The certification is issued by bodies licensed by IASME, the organisation running the scheme on behalf of the Government. We can help by preparing you properly for the assessment.
Find out more about Cyber Essentials and how it can benefit your business.
To find out more or to talk to one of our experts, contact us today.
