BCN Group becomes a Cyber Essentials certification body

We’re pleased to announce BCN Group has been designated a Cyber Essentials certification body by IASME, the consortium responsible for assessing applications for the government-backed cyber security standards scheme.

About the certification 

The designation means we can now support businesses through the entire process of gaining certification, from initial assessment and recommendations right through to certification, further demonstrating our commitment to helping businesses protect themselves in line with NCSC best practices.

We have long championed robust cyber security for our customers, having helped hundreds of businesses identify and defend their system vulnerabilities through our Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus implementation and application services. This new designation means we can now assess and issue certification for Cyber Essentials ourselves too. It demonstrates that we’ve met the strictest requirements to become a Cyber Essentials certification body and underlines our own security credentials and commitment.

Protection against increased threat 

Cyber security is an ongoing and growing concern for businesses. Cyberattacks have been increasing in scope, frequency and sophistication over the past few years, with 39% of UK businesses suffering some form of attack in 2022.

In its recent Digital Defense Report 2022, Microsoft has laid out the scope of the problem for users of its environment, identifying, among others, a 74% increase in password attacks. Globally, here are now 921 of these happening every second. The reports also identifies 37 billion email threats blocked, 34.7 billion identity thefts blocked, and 710 million phishing emails blocked every week.

The good news, though, is that basic cyber security hygiene still protects against 98% of attacks – and this is exactly why Cyber Essentials certification is so important.

More about Cyber Essentials

What is Cyber Essentials?

Cyber Essentials is the UK Government-backed certification scheme for cyber security. It was developed by the National Cyber Security Centre and is designed to give all businesses, no matter their size, a framework for strengthening their security posture, guarding against online attacks, and protecting themselves across key attack vectors.

What does the framework look like?

As the standard for cyber security best practices, Cyber Essentials covers the five key control areas:

• Firewalls – ensuring your internet connection is secure
• Configuration – ensuring devices, software and servers are configured correctly and securely
• Data access – putting controls in place to ensure only the right people are accessing data and services
• Viruses and malware – ensuring malware and anti-virus software is being used and kept up to date across the business
• Security updates – ensuring software and applications are regularly updated with the latest security patches

Cyber Essentials also covers basic security requirements for wireless devices and Cloud services.

Why does my business need Cyber Essentials certification?

All businesses are vulnerable to cyberattack, and falling victim to one can cause devastating financial, operational and reputational damage. Cyber Essentials is designed to help businesses protect themselves against the most common forms of attack, including ransomware and phishing attacks, which have increased in complexity and number over recent years. Phishing attacks alone surged by 61% in 2022 against the previous year, and represent an ongoing threat to businesses of all sizes.

Achieving Cyber Essentials certification ensures organisations have stringent and robust security measures in place to protect not only their business, but their users, suppliers and customers too.

Cyber Essentials certification is a measure of assurance that your business is committed to cyber security. This can help you:

• Reassure customers, clients, vendors and partners that you are committed to operating securely, and that you are doing everything you can to protect them, as well as yourself
• Attract new business and customers by setting yourself apart with your cyber security measures and procedures
• Have a clear view of your business’s security posture, policies, practices and measures.

Gain Cyber Essentials certification with BCN Group

Ready to begin your journey towards certification? Get in touch with our Cyber Essentials team today.