Cyber Essentials Certification

Kudos in cyber security for your small business

Give your customers assurance that you’re a safe pair of hands with their data. A Cyber Essentials certification is the UK standard to protect your small business against the most common threats.

Cyber Essentials Certification

The problem

Cyber attacks and data breaches are an ever-growing threat to organisations and, as a result, businesses are feeling the pressure from clients, stakeholders and the government to show they’re secure and reliable. You know cyber security needs to be a priority, but just where do you start?

The solution

Cyber Essentials is the UK government-backed cyber security certification designed to protect your business from common cyber threats.

Cyber attacks come in many shapes and sizes, but the vast majority are very basic in nature, carried out by relatively unskilled individuals. They’re the digital equivalent of a thief trying your front door to see if it’s unlocked. Cyber Essentials is designed to prevent these attacks and is the perfect starting point for any business looking to improve its security.

There are two “flavours” of certification – Cyber Essentials basic and Cyber Essentials Plus.

Cyber Essentials vs Cyber Essentials Plus

Cyber Essentials basic is a self-assessment – you can do it yourself for £300 – but it can be laborious and confusing for those without experience. In a nutshell, it’s a list of requirements that your organisation must meet. Cyber Essentials basic and Cyber Essentials Plus are based off the same list of requirements and, therefore, are the same standard.

The difference with Cyber Essentials Plus is that it involves a hands-on external audit and vulnerability scan to verify that your business meets the requirements of the certification.

"We've worked with Nimbus Blue for over two years. They've been a huge part of our growth by identifying and implementing IT solutions that give us and our clients peace of mind."

Yekemi Otaru

Doqaru

Choose your certification

Dedicated Account Manager
Pre-assessment
Cyber Essentials for 12 months
Online and Phone Support
Assisted Submission
Free £25k Cyber Insurance
Assured Pass

£600

Everything in Guided CE plus:
Technical Scans and Audit
Cyber Essentials Plus for 12 months
Online and Phone Support
Full reports for both your IT team and board
Detailed technical remediation instructions
Assured Pass

£3,360

Frequently asked questions

Do I really need Cyber Essentials?

More and more government contracts will require that you have Cyber Essentials, as a minimum. It’s also becoming increasingly common in the private sector for customers to question the security of their supply chain. Achieving Cyber Essentials will give you an immediate advantage over your competitors.

How long does it take get certified?

In terms of total elapsed time, this will depend on how much remediation work is required to ensure you meet the standard. Typically, we get our customers from zero to certified within 3 weeks.

Are there any additional costs?

Not from us, though you may need to put some things in place to “plug the gap” between where you are now and where you need to be to meet the standard. We’ll advise on this after the initial assessment.

How much help do I get?

We’ll walk you through the process to certification, no matter how long it takes and no matter how many audits (CE+ only) we have to run.

Is certification guaranteed

With our guided services, we will ensure you do not fail, provided you follow our instructions.

How long does the certification last?

Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus expire after 1 year. You will need to repeat the certification process annually to maintain it.