ePartner Consulting Ltd gain Cyber Essentials certification

ePC is delighted to announce we have been awarded Cyber Essentials certification.

Cyber Essentials is a Government-backed, industry-supported scheme to help organisations protect themselves against common internet threats and make the UK a safer place to conduct business online.

What is the Cyber Essentials scheme?

Cyber Essentials is a Government-backed, industry-supported scheme to help organisations protect themselves against common internet threats and make the UK a safer place to conduct business online.

Part of the National Cyber Security Strategy, the Cyber Essentials scheme provides an audit of defences against cyber attacks as well as system weaknesses so that companies can better protect data stored on devices which connect to the Internet.

Launched in 2014, it provides a set of technical controls to help us measure our IT infrastructure against. These include:

• boundary firewalls and Internet gateways
• secure configuration
• access control
• malware protection
• patch management

By ensuring compliance with the controls, we can better defend against hacking, phishing and password guessing attacks originating from the internet.

Cyber Essentials certification is an important step on our continuing journey to improving information security. It demonstrates to both clients and partners that we have minimised our risk of a cyber-attack.

Alan Ingram, Technical Director, ePartner Consulting Ltd

How is Cyber Essentials implemented?

ePC has achieved the Cyber Essentials certification, which involves completing an in-depth audit of our controls and completing an assessment questionnaire. This questionnaire is then reviewed by our certifying body to ensure compliance.

Why is Cyber Essentials important?

Cyber attacks are becoming more common, costing businesses of all sizes millions in lost revenue and productivity.

Last week, British Airways became the latest high-profile victim after admitting 380,000 customers had their names, eMail addresses and credit card details stolen by hackers. Meanwhile, The Cyber Security Breaches Survey revealed that over two in five businesses (43%) experienced a cyber security breach or attack in the last 12 months.

Cyber Essentials certification helps us guard against cyber-attacks and offers reassurance to our clients that their data is safe. According to the UK Government, 80% of cyber-attacks could be prevented if businesses implement the technical controls outlined by the Cyber Essentials scheme.

Cyber Essentials certification also allows us to bid for more UK Government contracts and frameworks.

You can search for our certificate on the Cyber Essentials website.

To learn more about the scheme, or find out how your data is protected, please contact us.