LONDON – February 20, 2017 – Prodera Group, a provider of professional technology consulting services in the United Kingdom, has successfully been awarded the Cyber Essentials cyber security accreditation as part of the company’s ongoing commitment to cyber security best practice and assurance.
The growing threat of cyber-related crime is quickly becoming a major concern for most organisations and business leaders. With regular reports of high-profile businesses falling victim to cyber crime across the globe, it’s the responsibility of every organisations to ensure they adequately protect themselves and their customers.
Cyber Essentials is a cyber security certification, published in June 2014, that is backed by the UK Government in collaboration with the industry to promote a standard in cyber security practices across all industries and sectors. Based on five key controls, the scheme is designed to encourage organisations to adopt good security practices to address a number of common threats and minimise risk (even for businesses which aren’t particularly experienced in technology). An official Assurance Framework has been produced to enable organisations to successful obtain the certification by providing relevant guidance in the steps required to implement the appropriate controls to be compliance with the scheme at relatively low cost.
Prodera Group achieved the Cyber Essentials certification through the IASME Consortium, one of four accreditation bodies specified and appointed by the UK Government, in February 2017. In addition, IASME offers the ISAME Governance Standard that encourages further security best practices on aspects such as physical security, staff awareness and data backup. The IASME Governance Standard is widely recognised as the best cyber security standard for small companies by the UK Government when in consultation with trade associations and industry groups.
As a technology company, Prodera Group already adopts a number of best practices and protective measures to protect its digital assets and information as well as advising its client’s how to do the same. In addition to the practices described by the Cyber Essentials scheme, we also adhere to the guidance outlined by the National Cyber Security Centre’s (NCSC), including 10 Steps to Cyber Security and Cloud Security Principles. The NCSC was setup by the UK Government to help protect critical services cyber attacks, manage major incidents and improve the underlying security of the United Kingdom. Part of GCHQ, the NCSC works in collaboration with organisations and citizens to reduce the cyber security risk that exists today.
Notes to Editors
Cyber Essentials aims to help organisations implement basic levels of protection against cyber attack, demonstrating to their customers that they take cyber security seriously. The scheme is available at two levels:
- Cyber Essentials – an independently verified self-assessment. Organisations assess themselves against five basic security controls and a qualified assessor verifies the information provided.
- Cyber Essentials PLUS – a higher level of assurance. A qualified and independent assessor examines the same five controls, testing that they work in practice by simulating basic hacking and phishing attacks.
The five basic controls within Cyber Essentials were chosen because, when properly implemented, they will help to protect against unskilled internet-based attackers using commodity capabilities – which are freely available on the internet.
Organisations that undertake Cyber Essentials are encouraged to re-certify at least once a year and, where appropriate, progress their security.
Since 1 October 2014, Cyber Essentials became a minimum requirement for bidding for some government contracts (find out more).
For further information, please see www.cyberstreetwise.com\cyberessentials.
About Prodera Group
Prodera Group is an business technology solutions provider and specialist consulting partner. Our goal is straightforward – to deliver effective results for our clients. We proactively support, assist and supply businesses across the United Kingdom, Europe and Worldwide with a diverse portfolio of Managed IT Solutions and professional Consulting and Advisory Services. We are committed to offering practical expertise and developing IT solutions that aim to improve business performance, drive technical change and encourage agility.
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