We have once again renewed our Cyber Essentials Plus certification, this time under the new, more stringent, Evendine ruleset.

Cyber Essentials is a simple but effective Government-backed, industry-supported scheme to help organisations protect themselves against a range of common cyber attacks. We worked with Evolve North, specialist Information Governance and Data Security Experts, to achieve this widely recognised Government-accredited certification. 

According to the National Crime Agency, cyber crime continues to rise in scale and complexity, affecting essential services, businesses, and private individuals alike. Cyber criminals seek to exploit human or security vulnerabilities in order to steal passwords, data, or money directly. The most common threats include:

  • Hacking, including of social media and email passwords
  • Phishing: bogus emails asking for security information and personal details
  • Malicious software, including ransomware through which criminals hijack files and hold them to ransom
  • Distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks against websites – often accompanied by extortion.

Cyber Essentials sets out five controls which organisations need to implement immediately to strengthen cyber defences:

  1. Using properly configured firewalls and gateways 
  2. Choose the most secure settings for devices and software 
  3. Controlling who has access to data and services 
  4. Protection from viruses and malware
  5. Keeping devices and software up to date.

To achieve Cyber Essentials Plus certification, we underwent internal and external security audits, supported by Evolve North, to ensure our processes meet requirements in each of the above areas and that we are protected against malware and phishing attempts.

The updated Evendine ruleset includes stricter controls for administrator accounts and stronger protection against emails containing viruses or malware. We have updated our systems accordingly to ensure that we are fully protected, and the Cyber Essentials Plus audits confirm that our controls are working correctly.

We work with a number of public sector clients who require strict security to maintain confidentiality on pre-publication material. With our Cyber Essentials Plus certification, you can be assured that our systems and technology are well protected against all the above threats, and your data and documents are fully secured.