Cyber-attacks come in many different shapes and sizes, but the vast majority of them are simplistic – designed by cyber criminals who are looking to get the maximum financial gain from minimum effort.
Despite not being very sophisticated in their execution, every 19 seconds a UK business falls victim to being hacked, which would largely be avoidable with the right level of security protections. Cyber Essentials is a simple way of helping SMEs protect themselves against cybercrime.
There are two levels of Cyber Essentials certification:
This involves self-assessment against a set of criteria as set out by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to unearth vulnerabilities to basic attacks, and sets out basic security measures which must be put in place in order to protect against them, and gain the Cyber Essentials Certification.
CE+ still maintains the same simple approach and recommends the same security measures, but also involves a hands-on tech technical verification. This is likely the better option for organisations handling particularly sensitive data or who are looking to attract clients who are looking for a greater level of security reassurance from third parties they work with.
44% of UK consumers claim that they would stop spending money with a business in the immediate aftermath of a data breach, and 41% said they would make this a permanent withdrawal of support, according to this global research report on business data practices.
Even if you aren’t looking to attract new customers, can you afford to lose the ones you already have in the event of your business experiencing a data breach as a result of a cyber-attack?
Being certified isn’t just about gaining a tick in a box – organisations who already have the certification report a positive impact on both consumer and investor confidence, how confident they feel in their protections, and their management’s understanding of security risk.
Cyber Essentials is essentially a security baseline for businesses to adopt, and the use of the CE logo is like a rubber stamp to give clients and potential clients confidence that you have everything in place needed to keep their data safe. We’re also finding that our clients are often now needing to be certified in order to win work, or tender for certain contracts so it’s worth being prepared!
A visible Cyber Essentials certification adds trust to your brand, giving you a competitive advantage over rival businesses who are not accredited.
By aligning your IT with Cyber Essentials' standards, your organisation will be well-protected, reducing the likelihood of cyber attacks.
By becoming Cyber Essentials certified, you can display the logo on printed and digital material. This provides reassurance to customers and potential customers that you take cyber security seriously.
The CE accreditation looks at five areas of your IT systems
In order for you to become certified, we analyse your current setup against these five categories, we compile an action plan which will bring you up to the security standard the accreditation requires, and then we implement the suggestions for you to get you certification-ready!
Like with anything in the world of technology, new threats and stronger protections are evolving all the time, so we review your situation on an ongoing basis, to make sure you’re always up to accreditation standard. We offer our Cyber Essentials service on a monthly-fee basis, which includes the cost of your first audit, the certification itself, and continued work to keep you up-to-date.
Customers who join us based on a recommendation.
The issues which get fixed on the same day they get logged.
Calls answered in under 10 seconds.
We're a hard-working, friendly team who have your interests at heart.
We act as an extension to your business, not just fixing problems with reactive break-fix support, but proactively monitoring and advising on the development of your IT in line with your business goals, all for a fixed monthly cost.
"We found that Prodigy really understood our needs, and were able to come up with the most cost-effective and best ongoing solution."
A network of over 19, low-performing Windows PCs were slowing down day-to-day operations.
We visited Schofields and had a chat, getting to know their business and what they needed from their IT systems day-to-day. We quickly established that the slow machines were coming to the end of their lives and needed replacing as a priority.
As well as needing fast, reliable and secure machines to work on and a network which had minimal downtime, after talking to them about pain points and IT needs, we realised Schofields also needed a more robust backup solution for their main server. At this point, one of their main concerns was the cost of replacing 19 PCs all at once.
We installed 19 new Business Level PCs on a cost-effective monthly plan basis. We also set up a disaster recovery solution to back up the entire server including Operating System, programs, files and documents. This meant that in the event of an emergency, their server could be restored in a matter of hours rather than a matter of days! They also joined us on an ongoing support agreement, and we continue to look after their IT systems on a daily basis.
“We approached not only Prodigy with our requirements, but other IT companies for proposals. We found that Prodigy really understood our needs and were able to come up with the most cost effective and best ongoing support the business needed. We were sceptical on how much disruption such a big change over would have, however during the two days of implementation the work was very well planned out and executed.
The whole job was carried out with minimal fuss and disruption. Not only are we now working in a more productive and secure environment, we are covered with ongoing support. Previous to working with Prodigy, our IT support was very slow and non-reactive, with the support package we receive a fantastic response time – all for a fixed fee – meaning we don’t receive unexpected invoices!”
Carl Chivers
Practice Manager
"Prodigy
Anthony Carr
M & N Electrical
Unit 53, Sunrise Business Park
Blandford
Dorset
DT11 8ST
01258 442 888
info@prodigyitsolutions.com