Helping clients to become Cyber Essentials Certified
Posted 19 Nov 2019
In today’s post-GDPR world, data security is more important
than ever before. It is important that you have taken the time to ensure that your systems are fully protected against
cyber threats and data breaches. At
Lucid Systems, we take security extremely seriously and we regularly work
alongside many of our clients to help them achieve Cyber Essentials certification.
This means that you can feel not just feel confident that you
are protecting yourself in full against the potential for cyber-attacks, but you
can clearly demonstrate to your customers and stakeholders a stringent
commitment to data security.
What is the Cyber Essentials certification scheme?
Cyber Essentials is a government-backed
scheme which was launched in 2014 to help organisations protect themselves
against a range of online threats. Backed by both the Federation of Small
Businesses and the CBI, it’s a certification scheme which is designed to help
those who may not have the time or resources to implement a full-on
cyber security system.
Cyber Essentials certification can protect businesses
against hacking, phishing scams or password guessing. It ensures that all of
your IT devices are protected, whether that’s laptops, desktops, mobile phones,
and even servers and networking equipment.
Why should SME’s pay attention to Cyber Essentials certification?
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are often deemed the
most ‘at risk’ of cyber attacks because they are seen as less resilient to
hackers. A combination of fewer resources, smaller budgets, a lack of
specialist knowledge and a shortage of time to implement security fixes can
make them an easy target for cyber criminals.
In the government’s Cyber
Security Breaches Survey 2019, it was discovered that 31% of micro and
small businesses have identified a security breach in the last 12 months.
Whilst this is a significant decrease from the year before (where 42% of Micro
or Small businesses identified a breach) it is still a huge number and shows
the continual need to educate smaller firms of the importance of cyber security.
One of the key aspects of cyber security is ensuring that
all systems are updated with the latest patches and fixes. In 2017, the WannaCry
ransomware attack affected more than 200,000 computers across 150
countries, mainly because many organisations (especially smaller firms) were
using older or out of date software which left them vulnerable to being
attacked.
Clearly, it’s vital that cyber security should be seen as a
key priority for all companies, whatever their size.
How Lucid Systems can support your Cyber Essentials certification
At Lucid Systems, we are realists and we understand the
pressures that our clients face. We know that when it comes to cyber security
it will always be on the ‘to-do’ list, but sometimes things which you’ve been
meaning to get around to can lead to disastrous consequences if they are not
tackled promptly.
The Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2019 showed that 15% of
those firms who had identified an attack took more than a day to recover. In
today’s fast-paced world, the longer it takes to recover from a hack, the more
damage can be done. In worst-case scenarios, an attack can even cause a
business to cease trading – especially if customer data such as payment details
have been compromised.
At Lucid Systems, we work hard to take the stress of online
security away from our clients. We work collaboratively to assess your
individual systems and security practices and make the technical changes
required to improve your resilience. We use our expertise to implement
stringent policies and educate all staff members of the importance of remaining
vigilant to any online threats. When we are comfortable that everything is set
up as it should, we complete the Cyber Essentials application on your behalf,
allowing you to enjoy the benefits of full certification.
The end result is that you can feel confident that you’ve
done what you can to protect your business. You can demonstrate to your
customers that you have a full audit of internal security processes (which are
vital as part of the stringent GDPR legislation), and you can show to customers
that you can safely store and process personal or sensitive data.
We work alongside clients in locations such as Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds,
and Colchester and Bedfordshire to protect them against cyber crime. If you’d
like to find out about our data security
initiatives or our disaster
recovery solutions, or you would like us to arrange your Cyber Essentials certification on your behalf, please get
in touch.
by
Amy Dawson