Protecting Your SMB: The Role of Cyber Essentials

Cybersecurity is an essential part of the modern business world. After all, with cyberattacks becoming increasingly commonplace with each passing day, it’s vital to ensure you’re protected against the possible threats you could face.

Cyber Essentials is a government-backed scheme that teaches companies to guard themselves against cyber attacks and other cyber issues. It’s an essential part of protecting your business and often the first step to ensuring tight security.

In this blog, we will go over the ins and outs of Cyber Essentials, and why you should take the step to become Cyber Essentials certified. We’ll also look at some common threats you can face and the steps you can take post-certification.

What is Cyber Essentials?

Cyber Essentials is a scheme funded by the United Kingdom National Cyber Security Centre, which aims to help organisations protect themselves against cyber attacks.

Established in 2014, Cyber Essentials was implemented by the National Cyber Security Centre to respond to the growing threat of cyberattacks nationwide. Since then, Cyber Essentials has evolved and improved, providing a better service that has helped lots of businesses around the United Kingdom.

Essentially, Cyber Essentials provides the training to establish a baseline level of protection for your business. This is so you can know the security essentials and ensure you’ve correctly implemented security features to protect your business in the long run.

There are two kinds of Cyber Essentials certifications —

• Cyber Essentials: This is the standard government-backed certification and is straightforward to get started with,
• Cyber Essentials Plus: This enhanced version of the scheme adds additional technical controls and a more rigorous assessment of your organisation.

Benefits of Cyber Essentials Certification

Taking the first step and getting Cyber Essentials Certification has many benefits—some of which are tangible security benefits, and others relate to your business’s reputation.

Here are some of the key benefits —

• Risk Mitigation: Cyber Essentials helps you understand how to protect your business and mitigate any risks to your organisation. It addresses relevant and modern risks and is constantly being updated to teach about the threats of the current world.
• Reputation and Trust: Having a Cyber Essentials certificate makes your organisation more trustworthy, with customers and partners more likely to trust your business in the long run.
• Compliance: Some government contracts require Cyber Essentials training, so it’s vital to have the certification if you’re expecting to work with the government.
• Cost Effectiveness: Cyber Essentials is a cost-effective approach to learning cybersecurity. By being aware of good cybersecurity standards, you can ensure you don’t spend lots of money in places you don’t need to and don’t lose lots of money due to an attack.

Common Cyber Threats Faced by SMBs

Cyber Essentials is a great way to ensure you’re protected from cyberattacks. But, for SMBs, it can be challenging to understand precisely how you could be affected by cyber threats. After all, small businesses don’t seem like common cyberattack targets but are just as vulnerable as larger businesses.

Here are some of the threats that SMBs can face —

• Social Engineering: Social engineering is a massive risk for businesses. Attacks like phishing can catch unsuspecting employees off guard and cause a lot of damage, even from a small-scale breach.
• Malware: Malware is a huge risk for businesses. Accidentally unleashing malware can wreak havoc on small businesses if they’re not prepared for it. Implementing good security tools can combat this, but knowing what to implement can be difficult.
• Ransomware: In the worst-case scenario, your SMB could be hit by a ransomware attack. This is when an attacker aims to extort your business by denying you access to your systems, often for a ransom. These attacks are crippling, and protecting yourself is vital.

Steps to Achieve Cyber Essentials Certification

Achieving Cyber Essentials Certification is a three-step process. Depending on your organisation’s specifics, it can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.

The three key steps are —

• Self Assessment: In this step, you complete a questionnaire to assess your compliance with the requirements.
• Verification: An independent assessor will review your questionnaire. They might conduct additional checks to verify your compliance.
• Certification: In this step, you will be accepted or denied a certification, depending on whether you meet the compliance requirements.

The most important thing here is to go through the self-assessment requirements and make sure you meet every single one. Working with a trusted partner to do this is a great way to ensure you have support from someone with experience.

Maintaining Cybersecurity Post-Certification

Once you have certification, maintaining your cybersecurity is still vital. After all, certification alone won’t protect your business.

It is vital to maintain a high standard of cybersecurity post-certification. This means auditing your business to ensure that your standards are still high and creating a security-aware culture.

By ensuring that everyone does their bit to keep security standards high, you can easily ensure that your business is protected with audits that guarantee that none of your preventative measures become vulnerable.

How We Can Help

Cybersecurity is a massive issue in the modern business world, and SMBs aren’t exempt from this. Making sure your business is protected is paramount, and Cyber Essentials is an excellent way of doing so in a way that also supports your business’s reputation. 

By attaining Cyber Essentials certification, you can easily ensure that your business is not only protected but also trusted in terms of security. 

If you need help understanding Cyber Essentials and working out exactly what your business needs to do to achieve certification, contact us now and see how we can help.