Cyber Essentials Plus
What is Cyber Essentials Plus?
Cyber Essentials Plus is a UK Government-backed, industry-supported certification scheme introduced in the UK in 2014 to enable organisations to demonstrate operational security against the growing threat of cyber-attacks.
The widely recognised scheme was developed and continues to be operated by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and continues to be an efficient way to ensure a secure environment and robust cyber security measures are in place.
What is the difference between Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus?
Cyber Essentials is a self-assessment option that provides protection against a wide variety of the most common cyber-attacks. Certification provides peace of mind that your security systems will protect your business from cyber attacks, as cyber criminals look for targets that do not have the Cyber Essentials technical controls in place. Cyber Essentials enables secures IT systems and prevents common cyber attacks.
Cyber Essentials Plus still carries the Cyber Essentials framework, and the protections organisations need to have in place remain the same, however, for Cyber Essentials Plus a hands-on technical independent audit is carried out.
Why should organisations obtain the Cyber Essentials Plus certification?
Data shows that holding a Cyber Essentials Plus certification helps protects a business against 80% of common cyber attacks and ensures secure controls are in place to protect against data theft.
Cyber hackers are becoming more intelligent and have adapted to many counter-hacking measures. The DCMS Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2021 reports that the nature of cyber attacks has changed over the years. Since 2017 the number of businesses experiencing phishing attacks has jumped from 72% to 83%, although there has been a drop in businesses experiencing viruses or other malware attacks, from 33% to 9%.
What does Cyber Essentials Plus mean for our clients?
Cyber Essentials certification acts as an outward expression to any existing and potential clients that Griffiths & Armour take clear and significant steps to ensure the protection of their valuable data.
