Cyber Essentials and Next-generation antimalware products

What are the chances of achieving Cyber Essentials with next generation antimalware products? We’ve had this question asked probably close to a hundred times over the last year or two and before now it was always that it was not possible to completely certify using solely next generation antimalware products, due to the inability to use signature files and keep them up to date, as required by the scheme.

It has now been confirmed, however, that next-generation antivirus solutions are now supported when undertaking the Cyber Essentials certifications. Previously this caused quite a bit of contention when undergoing assessment due to the requirements of the scheme specifying that a antivirus/antimalware product must have had signature files and for them to be kept up to date continuously.

This was obviously something that next generation antimalware solutions could not meet and caused applicants to have to put in additional layers of protection, such as using Windows Defender to have the ability to pass the certification requirements of the scheme.

However, from this point onwards you can successfully past the Cyber Essentials certification (assuming that you meet all the controls and achieve a successful pass) if you are using one of the next generation products for the production of your environment.