Cyber Essentials, the government’s cyber protection certification for businesses, is changing on the 26th April.
The new version now provides more clarity around some of the controls and requirements, but what does that really mean for your business?
Our founder, Helen, explains all, “The nature of the cyber threat that is faced by all organisations, regardless of size and sector continues to evolve. The changes to the Cyber Essentials question set reflect this evolution and our changing working behaviours. For example, further clarification has been provided on personal devices that are used in the workplace (also called ‘Bring your own devices’ or ‘BYOD’), and controls around how third parties such as outsourced IT providers may access your systems.
It’s important to remember that the Cyber Essentials scheme is a mechanism for managing risk to your business and therefore these changes should not be seen as a barrier or cumbersome, but as a way of protecting business systems and customer as well as employee data.”
The cost of Cyber Essentials certification will remain unchanged. Here at Risk Evolves, we’ve decided to hold the price of our consultancy services until 1st August 2021.
What do the changes to Cyber Essentials mean for you?
Here’s a quick summary of how this will affect you if…
Your renewal is due before 26th April
If you want to renew on the old question set, you will need to submit your renewal and pay for your assessment before the 26th April. We recommend acting ASAP, so you have time to implement any remedial action needed to demonstrate ongoing compliance and complete your application properly. We can help you with this.
Your renewal is due on or after 26th April
Submissions from the 26th onwards will be on the new question set. If you’re ‘mid flight’, there will be a little bit of extra work to do to ensure your business has optimum protection. You can work your way through the question set to see what’s different or let us do the hard work for you. We’ll be summarising the differences in our short ‘What’s Changed in Cyber Essentials’ webinar on May 27th. Register now for your free place.
You’re partway through your first certification
If you want to be certified on the current question set, you will need to submit (and pay for) your application for assessment before the 26th April. If you submit on the 26th or afterwards, you will automatically be assigned the new question set. You can view this on the IASME website or let us tell you what’s new in our ‘What’s Changed in Cyber Essentials’ webinar on May 27th. Register now for your free place.
If you’re keen to achieve certification quickly, contact us. We’re fully trained on the changes and can help you comply with the new requirements. We have a 100% success rate with Cyber Essentials so you can be sure that your security will be in safe hands.
You plan to start working towards Cyber Essentials on or after 26th April
Great news! You’ll automatically be assessed using the new question set, so you’ll have the best protection possible under the Cyber Essentials scheme.
You can view the new question set on the IASME website or find out what’s different by joining our ‘What’s Changed in Cyber Essentials’ webinar on May 27th. Register now for your free place.
Next steps
As usual, please do get in touch if you need any further help.
If you liked this, you may be interested in
Finding out more about the benefits of Cyber Essentials (including a FAQ)
Understanding the differences between Cyber Essentials and ISO27001
Talking to us about phishing simulations
Listening to the FSB podcast on cyber security for small businesses
Joining other free webinars on IT and data protection (please add yourself to our mailing list (see footer) to ensure you are invited!)
Finding out more about free cyber security training
