We take cyber security very seriously. As such, we are delighted to have been awarded the Cyber Essentials certification. You can view our certificate here, but we thought it was worth explaining in a little more detail what Cyber Essentials status means for you and the way we protect your data.

What does the Cyber Essentials badge tell me?

When you see the Cyber Essentials badge, you can feel confident that you are dealing with a company that takes the security, confidentiality and integrity of your data, seriously, and has taken all necessary measures to protect it against cyber attack.

It is awarded to those firms that can show they meet stringent criteria, as laid down by the National Cyber Security Centre, a part of GCHQ.

Those criteria ensure that:

  • We use only secure internet connections
    All our devices and software are protected through the use of firewalls. Firewalls effectively create a ‘buffer zone’ between our IT network and other, external networks, which means that we can better keep out the traffic we don’t want to enter our network.
  • We use only the most secure settings for our devices and software
    We have checked the settings on all our software and raised the level of security wherever necessary to ensure they cannot be accessed by those who do not have permission.
  • Access to our data and services is strictly controlled
    We ensure that all data that we hold is only accessible through user accounts, that administrative privileges are given only to those who require them to perform their role, and that what administrators can do with the data we hold, is closely controlled.
  • We protect our devices and software from viruses and malware
    The term malware is short for ‘malicious software’ and can include things such as ransomware, and viruses, which are a specific type of malware intended to replicate and spread. These programs are designed to infect legitimate software, passing unnoticed between machines, whenever they can. Cyber Essentials certification shows that we use proven anti-malware measures to prevent these dangers from entering our systems.
  • All devices, software and apps that we use are kept updated
    By ensuring that we regularly update our devices and software, we can keep our systems secure and protected from any new security threats.

If you’d like further information about how we protect your data, then please be sure to ask us. You can get in contact with us here.

You can also read more about Cyber Essentials and what it means on the National Cyber Security Centre website here.