Local business, chosen by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to be their sole Cyber Essentials Partner from April 2020

Based at the Wyche Innovation Centre in Malvern, IASME are specialists in certification for cyber security and information assurance. They have been an Accreditation Body for the Cyber Essentials Scheme since its inception in 2014 and have just been chosen by NCSC to be the sole Cyber Essentials Partner from Wednesday 1 April 2020.

  • The Cyber Essentials Scheme is supported by the UK government to help businesses guard against the most common cyber threats.
  • Over 30,000 UK businesses have gained Cyber Essentials certification since its launch in 2014 and this number is growing year on year.
  • Naming IASME as the single delivery partner will streamline and grow the Scheme and ensure it keeps pace with the changing nature of the cyber security threat.

Since its launch in 2014 the Cyber Essentials Scheme has helped to protect over 30,000 UK businesses from the most commonly seen cyber-threats. The Scheme was developed to protect organisations against low-level “commodity threats”. It focuses on the five most important technical security controls that businesses should have in place to prevent malicious attacks. These controls were identified by the government as those that, if they had been in place, would have stopped the majority of successful cyber-attacks over the last few years.

Since its launch, Cyber Essentials has been delivered through multiple Accreditation Bodies and their respective Certification Bodies. In order to simplify the customer experience and improve consistency, the NCSC have appointed IASME as a single Cyber Essentials partner to take over running the Scheme. This will make the Scheme easier to run on a day to day basis and streamline the development process to ensure Cyber Essentials remains relevant.

The current Certification Bodies have been instrumental in the success of the Cyber Essentials Scheme. Existing Certification Bodies will be encouraged to apply to the new Cyber Essentials Partner to continue to provide Cyber Essentials as part of the revised scheme. The Scheme also welcomes new Certification Bodies or anyone from the cyber security industry interested in promoting the Scheme. More information can be found on the IASME website.

IASME Chief Executive, Dr Emma Philpott, MBE, said: “We are extremely excited about the prospect of working in partnership with the NCSC to develop and grow the Cyber Essentials scheme.

“We have seen such a positive effect already over the last 5 years where Cyber Essentials has increased the basic levels of security across sectors such as charities, healthcare and education in particular. We are so pleased that we can be part of the future developments, working closely with the excellent Certification Bodies, trade bodies, police and other key stakeholders, to ensure further growth of the scheme.”

Anne W, NCSC Head of Commercial Assurance Services, added: “The NCSC is looking forward to working in partnership with the IASME team to ensure that the scheme continues to evolve and meet the cyber security challenges of tomorrow; a scheme that puts cyber security within reach of the vast majority of UK organisations.”

More information can be found from NCSC here.