Certification International is pleased to partner with Stratia Consulting to provide Cyber Essentials Plus certification.
All organisations are vulnerable to cyber security threats, with hackers increasingly targeting everyone for the sensitive and confidential client data that firms hold. Many organisations have had their commercial secrets stolen, suffered customer data loss, and experienced irreversible damage to their reputation through cyber breaches.
What is the Cyber Essentials Scheme?
Cyber Essentials (https://www.cyberstreetwise.com/cyberessentials/) is a new Government-backed and industry supported scheme to guide businesses in protecting themselves against cyber threats.
The scheme offers certification at two levels: the basic Cyber Essentials self-assessment and a more rigorous audited assessment called Cyber Essentials Plus. A Cyber Essentials Plus assessment can only be carried out by trained assessors from an approved certification body (Stratia Consulting is one).
Both levels of certification involve assessment of an organisation’s security controls across 5 key areas: firewalls; secure configuration; user access control; malware protection and patch management.
If you are a supplier to UK Government departments or hold any Government information, as of October 2014, it is a mandatory requirement for you to have Cyber Essentials Certification for many contracts. See https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cyber-essentials-scheme-overview for more details.
How Certification International and Stratia Consulting Can Help
As an approved certification body, Stratia Consulting can conduct Cyber Essentials Plus assessments and issue certificates to organisations that meet the standard. They can also provide consultancy and advice to organisations who wish to submit their own self-assessment questionnaire for the basic level of Cyber Essentials.
For Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME), Stratia is able to combine a Cyber Essentials Plus assessment with an audited assessment against the IA for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (IASME) scheme (https://www.iasme.co.uk/). This can be a very cost-effective way for an organisation to become certified against both standards.
Customers will benefit from Stratia providing an experienced qualified Cyber Essentials Assessor from a team of experts who will provide pragmatic security advice. They work with some of the most respected and experienced security consultants in the UK, including those that are certified at the highest possible level (Lead Practitioner) by the UK Government under the CESG Certified Professional Scheme.
If you would like more information about Cyber Essentials (Plus), please contact emma@socotec-certification-international.com at Certification International or call our office on 01793 492892.