Cyber Essentials has gone from strength to strength since its inception and is an important element of the NCSC’s mission to “make the UK one of the safest places to live and do business online”.
The success of the Cyber Essentials scheme led the NCSC to the decision that the scheme must evolve to meet the cybersecurity challenges of the future and continue its successful journey to protect businesses up and down the country. So, what should expect from Cyber Essentials in 2020?
2020 and IASME’s partnership appointment
IASME, one of the UK’s leading cyber certification bodies, has been appointed as the Cyber Essentials partner for NCSC from 1 April 2020. So what does this mean?
Before 1st April 2020: The five current accreditation bodies and their associated certification bodies are able to issue Cyber Essentials certificates as before. The scheme will remain in its current form until the end of March.
After 1st April 2020: Only certification bodies associated with IASME will be able to issue certifications. The CyberSmart platform is aligned with IASME and will continue to allow you to achieve and re-certify for Cyber Essentials certification.
The NCSC has made the following statements:
- there will be an introduction of an expiry date on certificates (12 months)
- costs will remain accessible and affordable
- there are no plans to change the technical standard
CyberSmart Active Protect is fully aligned with the accreditation body IASME and will allow you to achieve Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus certification today and renewal. We will always maintain support for the latest standard and keep ahead of the changes so you don’t have to. With streamlined renewals, we’ll remind you and automatically pre-populate the questionnaire each year ready for certification – prompting you for any additional information required.
Looking to improve your cybersecurity but not sure where to begin? Start by getting certified in Cyber Essentials, the UK government scheme that covers all the fundamentals of cyber hygiene.
