Outsourced HR
Cyber Essentials Certification
As the business was growing and becoming more successful in client engagements, ArenaHR began working with organisations that understood the…
Cyber Essentials Certification
Certified protection against modern threats
Cyber Essentials
Cyber Essentials Certification
Cyber Essentials is a UK Government-backed certification scheme, designed to set a strong security baseline and help businesses operate securely online. As a certification standard, Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus demonstrate your business’ commitment to cyber security, enhancing your reputation with customers, stakeholders and supply chain partners. Cyber Essentials certification also includes free cyber insurance available to UK companies, if the certification covers the entire organisation (additional conditions apply).
Cyber Essentials is also required for many Government and public-sector contracts, making it a key driver of new sales and business growth. Cyber Essentials Plus is an extended version of Cyber Essentials, with additional security controls, that unlocks more public-sector opportunities.
What is involved in Cyber Essentials certification?
Cyber Essentials is a UK Government-backed, industry supported certified scheme, delivered by UK GOV partner, IASME. The scheme is designed to protect organisations of all sizes against common cyber threats. It focuses on five technical controls to reduce risk and enhance security.
Access Control
The implementation of a system for managing access to sensitive information. This includes implementing strong password policies and granting access only to authorised users
Firewalls & Routers
Ensuring your network is protected by robust firewalls that act as a barrier against unauthorised access, protecting your valuable business data.
Secure Configuration
Emphasising the importance of keeping devices and software applications up to date with the latest security patches, minimising vulnerabilities that attackers could exploit.
Malware Protection
Confirming that all systems are adequately protected from malware.
Software Updates
Software vulnerabilities are a common entry point for cyberattacks. Cyber Essentials highlights the importance of a systematic approach to patching vulnerabilities in operating systems, applications and firmware to reduce security risks.
Cyber Essentials or Plus?
Choosing the right level of cybersecurity certification is essential for protecting your organisation. Cyber Essentials provides a strong foundation against common threats, while Cyber Essentials Plus offers independently verified assurance for a higher level of protection.
Cyber Essentials is a UK government-backed certification scheme that helps organisations protect against common cyber threats by implementing basic security controls.
Cyber Essentials Plus is an advanced UK certification that verifies an organisation’s cybersecurity through independent testing, demonstrating a higher level of security assurance.
Why choose Urban as an assessor?
Choosing the right Cyber Essentials assessor is just as important as the certification itself. Urban combines deep technical expertise with a straightforward, supportive approach, guiding you through the process efficiently while ensuring you achieve compliance with confidence and minimal disruption.
Unmatched expertise
Our assessors combine deep technical knowledge with real-world experience, providing practical guidance tailored to your environment and delivering security improvements beyond certification.
Easy certification process
We make Cyber Essentials simple with a clear, guided approach, helping you stay on track and achieve certification quickly with minimal disruption.
Proven track record
We’ve helped organisations across many sectors achieve certification, using a structured approach that delivers consistent, reliable results every time.
A partner you can trust
We truly believe that you should only work with IT partners that hold both certifications and can independently demonstrate that they can “walk the talk,” Urban Network hold both Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus certification.
Cyber Essentials Plus is an externally assessed audit of our systems and technical controls, which extends past the self-assessed standard CE certification that many companies (including many UK IT providers) undertake and proves we do what we say.
This is just one layer of the compliance and security standards that Urban meet, but every layer is important and helps reduce our own risk profile so that you can be assured that we take your cyber security seriously and are knowledgeable within this field.
You wouldn’t take advice from a lawyer who wasn’t certified and tested, so why would you allow an IT company to advise you on the protection of your business without taking their own seriously?
You can check if your IT company is certified to the CE Plus standard below.
Working with Urban to achieve our Cyber Essentials certification was a genuinely positive experience from start to finish. As a small HR company, cyber security felt like a daunting area for us, but the team at Urban made the entire process straightforward and manageable.
Having known Urban for many years, we already trusted their expertise, but they really exceeded expectations in how they guided us through our first certification. Everything was explained clearly, without jargon, and they were always on hand to answer questions, no matter how small. What stood out most was how friendly and approachable the team were., they took the time to understand our business and tailored their support so it felt relevant, not overwhelming.
Thanks to their help, we not only achieved Cyber Essentials but also gained the confidence to demonstrate our commitment to cyber security when working with larger organisations.
We’d highly recommend Urban to any business looking to take that first step into Cyber Essentials, they make what can seem complex feel simple.
Laura Rennie | MD
Arena HR
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