Cyber accreditation

It is recommended that NHS organisations get a cyber essentials accreditation and where appropriate extend this out to cyber essentials plus accreditation against their organisation including their cloud platforms.

Cyber essentials is a simple but effective, government backed scheme that will help you to protect your organisation, whatever its size, against a whole range of the most common cyber attacks. Cyber attacks come in many shapes and sizes, but the vast majority are very basic in nature, carried out by relatively unskilled individuals. They’re the digital equivalent of a thief trying your front door to see if it’s unlocked. Our advice is designed to prevent these attacks.

There are two levels of certification

Our self assessment option gives you protection against a wide variety of the most common cyber attacks. This is important because vulnerability to simple attacks can mark you out as a target for more in-depth unwanted attention from cyber criminals and others.

Certification gives you peace of mind that your defences  will protect against the vast majority of common cyber attacks simply, because these attacks are looking for targets that do not have the cyber essentials technical controls in place.

Cyber essentials shows you how to address those basics and prevent the most common attacks.

Cyber essentials plus still has the cyber essentials trademark simplicity of approach, and the protection you need to put in place is the same, but for cyber essentials plus a hands on technical verification is carried out.

Alternatively, you can familiarise yourself with cyber security terminology, gaining enough knowledge to begin securing your IT.

Certified cyber security:

• reassure customers that you are working to secure your IT against cyber attack
• attract new workloads with the promise you have cyber security measures in place
• you have a clear picture of your organisation's cyber security level
• some NHS and Government contracts require cyber essentials certification