What are the 5 controls?

Cyber Essentials looks at five key areas of cyber security for protecting your business, these areas are:

• Access control
• Firewalls and routers
• Malware protection
• Secure configuration
• Software updates
  

Does Cyber Essentials Expire?

All Cyber Essentials related certificates are valid for 12 months only. After this time, you will have to renew your certificate.

What is the difference between Basic & Essential?

The Cyber Essentials basic assessment involves completing a questionnaire covering the five key technical controls. Cyber Essentials Plus goes a step further and includes a vulnerability scan of externally facing devices in scope along with internal devices. The Cyber Essentials Plus certification must be achieved within 3 months of obtaining the basic certification.

Do I need to include mobile phones?

Normally yes, if you have any mobile devices which access business data (like emails) then these must be in scope of your assessment. This also includes any BYOD devices that are used by staff. 

What is a 'device'?

A device under the Cyber Essentials Scheme is classified as a device that can be used to connect to and use the internet, this includes web applications, email and any other company based resources.  Devices are only in scope if they have access to the internet, if the device has no access to the internet, and this is enforced by a technical controls such as firewall, segregated VLANs and/or air gapped networks, then the devices can be considered out of scope and do not need to be included in the assessment.

Examples of devices are:

• Workstation or Laptop
• Server that provides users access to the internet through a GUI
• Tablet
• Mobile Phone (including personal, if access to business resources, such as email)

What do you need to get started?

In order to get started you must provide the following information:

• Name of company to be certified (as against Companies House)
• Registered company address
• Name of person filling in the self-assessment
• Email address of person above
• Mobile number of person above (to receive password to portal)
• Purchase Order number (if needed)
• Finance billing email address

Once we have this information we can get you setup on the portal and you can start your journey to Cyber Essentials. 

How long do I have to access the portal?

Once the online portal has been setup, you will have 6 months to complete the self-assessment, any longer than this and your access to the portal may be denied and additional costs may be incurred.

Can I see the questions before I start?

Yes you can, you can download the latest question set from IASME’s website at: https://iasme.co.uk/cyber-essentials/free-download-of-cyber-essentials-self-assessment-questions/.