Skip to content

A risk that businesses of all sizes face today, regardless of their location, is the threat of a cyber security attack. Criminals recognise that they are able to target computer systems around the world at the press of a button and have identified how they can financially benefit from cybercrime. Small and micro businesses may not feel that they are a target for these criminals as their data is of no value, however, we recognise that whilst they may not be directly targeted, small and micro businesses can and do suffer the effects of cybercrime either directly or indirectly. The criminals potentially do not see any value in the data within a small business, but they know that the data is of value to the business. The criminals make the assumption that small businesses do not manage their computer systems as they don’t have the resources to do so and, as a result, can compromise their IT systems with less effort.

Cyber Essentials is an 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:

Cyber Essentials

This is the self-assessment option gives you protection against a wide variety of the most common cyber attacks. This is important because vulnerability to basic attacks can mark you out as 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 which 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

Cyber Essentials Plus still has the Cyber Essentials trademark simplicity of approach, and the protections you need to put in place are the same, but for Cyber Essentials Plus a hands-on technical verification is carried out.

The scheme has an annual renewal process to verify that accredited businesses meet the security controls to protect them against 80% of the least sophisticated attacks that they face. The badge is awarded at Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus standard levels by having computer systems externally assessed against the standard.

By working with The Apprentice Store, you can be assured that our experienced team will give you guidance and support to implement appropriate controls to become more cyber resilient. We have completed over 400 Cyber Essentials assessments, certifications and renewals and have helped even more businesses address their cyber security issues without achieving Cyber Essentials.

The Apprentice Store offers a managed Cyber Essentials service that allows organisations to access a service that monitors their compliance to their cyber security policies that are aligned to Cyber Essentials. This service only validates that an organisation is operating within the standard based on an agreed monitoring interval and does not certify compliance as that is formally completed annually.