The UK-government-backed scheme is fast becoming the minimum bar for winning work and getting insured. Here is what it covers and how to prepare.

Cyber Essentials is a UK government-backed certification that shows your business has the fundamental controls in place to defend against the most common cyber attacks. For a growing SME, it is increasingly the minimum bar to win contracts and secure cyber insurance.

The scheme covers five technical controls: firewalls, secure configuration, user access control, malware protection and security update management. None of them are exotic — but getting them consistently right across every device is where most businesses slip.

The good news is that preparing for Cyber Essentials also makes your day-to-day IT more reliable. If you outsource IT to a managed provider, most of the heavy lifting is already handled — the certification simply documents it.

If you are unsure where you stand, a short readiness review will tell you quickly. It is the kind of thing we build into our managed IT service as standard.