Almost half of UK businesses experienced a cyber-attack during 2023. That’s an increase of 9% from the previous year (44% in 2022 to 48% in 2023), according to the annual Cyber Readiness Report by global insurance specialist Hiscox.
It’s statistics like these that are encouraging discerning business owners to gain the Cyber Essentials accreditation.
And it’s not just to protect their businesses and avoid falling victim to a cyber-attack. There are business benefits too.
Build trust and boost reputation with clients
Having a government-backed accreditation is a positive signal to clients and potential clients that your business has solid cybersecurity standards in place.
This provides the reassurance and confidence they need to buy from you. And if your competition don’t have Cyber Essentials, you’re ahead of the game.
Win government contracts
If you work with public sector organisations and wish to bid for contracts, your application is unlikely to get past first post if you don’t have Cyber Essentials.
Build trust and boost reputation with suppliers
It’s not only your clients that need to have confidence in your business, suppliers do too.
Increasingly suppliers are insisting that their clients, that’s you, hold Cyber Essentials. So, if you want to have a business relationship with like minded and reputable suppliers, Cyber Essentials is… essential.
Clients and Suppliers can check you out
Whilst your Cyber Essentials accreditation is valid your company will be listed on the IASME website. This makes it easy to reference and offers the opportunity to be found by potential new clients.
Protect your business
Most importantly, holding Cyber Essentials accreditation ensures you put the measures in place to safeguard sensitive data and maintain the integrity of your IT systems.
Cyber Essentials is based on Five Controls, which are explained in detail in the recently launched Cyber Essentials Knowledge Hub.
- Firewalls
- Secure Configuration
- Security Update Management
- User Access Control
- Malware Protection
But before you dive in, we suggest you carry out your own IT audit to determine where you are now with your IT security levels.
An easy way to do this is to take our quick quiz How Cyber Secure is your Business?
It takes just a couple of minutes to answer 16 questions and you’ll receive a personalised report instantly.
The questions are based on how likely you are to gain the Cyber Essentials Accreditation and your score is an indication of how cyber secure your business currently is.
nTrust – Cyber Essentials Assured Service Provider
nTrust is a Cyber Essentials Assured Service Provider, meeting the NCSC’s (National Cyber Security Centre) requirements for cyber security experts.
Our qualified IT engineers can help you audit, prepare and attain this highly regarded IT certificate, so you have peace of mind that you’ve taken the necessary steps to implement a robust protection against cyber-attacks.
If you don’t have the in-house knowledge to implement Cyber Essentials, then please get in touch.
