Cyber Essentials certification

We are very pleased to announce that we have officially gained Cyber Essentials certification from the IASME accreditation body.

Cyber Essentials is a government-backed scheme that aims to encourage businesses and organisations to implement basic levels of digital protection against common cyber attacks, whilst allowing them to demonstrate an increased awareness of cyber security.

The team at Connect are actively pushing for and working towards a safer web, paying particular attention to boundary firewalls and internet gateways, secure configuration, access control, malware protection and patch management. These five basic controls within Cyber Essentials were chosen because, when properly implemented, they can actively help to protect against unskilled Internet-based attackers using commodity capabilities that are widely available on the web.

Connect’s Managing Director, Carole Boardman said: “Our recent Cyber Essentials certification demonstrates that, as a team, we continue to take essential precautions to mitigate the risk from common Internet-based threats. As an Internet solutions company this is a conscious consideration that is at the forefront of our professional outlook. I am absolutely delighted that we have achieved Cyber Essentials certification, and we can now proudly add it next to our other industry-leading digital accreditations, including ISO9001 and ISO27001.

For more information regarding our additional digital accreditations, please visit our About us page.

The Cyber Essentials scheme is currently available to businesses and organisations at two levels:

• Cyber Essentials – an independently verified self-assessment. Organisations assess themselves against five basic security controls and a qualified assessor verifies the information provided.
• Cyber Essentials PLUS – a higher level of assurance. A qualified and independent assessor examines the same five controls, testing that they work in practice by simulating basic hacking and phishing attacks.

In October 2014, Cyber Essentials certification became a minimum requirement when bidding for some government contracts, encouraging businesses and organisations to adopt an assured professional approach to digital security.

For more information regarding the scheme and how to gain Cyber Essentials certification, visit the Cyber Essentials homepage.