1 December 2021

Cyber Essentials Update

In January 2022, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) will introduce the biggest update to Cyber Essentials technical controls since its launch in 2014.

You may already be aware that Cyber Essentials is an effective government-backed scheme that helps organisations of all sizes defend against the most common cyber threats. It provides reassurance to organisations and their customers those systems are secure from basic cyber attacks. A Cyber Essentials certification is also often a requirement for organisations working on UK government contracts.

The update includes revisions to the use of cloud services, as well as home working, multi-factor authentication, password management, security updates and more, details of which can be found in the link below.

The new version of the Cyber Essentials technical requirements is officially released on 24 January 2022. Any assessments already underway, or that begin before that date, will continue to use the current technical standard, meaning that in-progress certifications will not be affected. Organisations using the current standard will have six months from 24 January to complete the assessment.

The information outlined above may be found here. There are also further links to guidance and FAQ’s.