Security Controls to Safeguard the Citizens of the United Kingdom

The IASME Cyber Essentials is a national scheme in the United Kingdom that helps organizations protect themselves against cyber threats. It provides an assurance of protection for businesses and individuals operating online, allowing them to securely carry out their operations and reduce the risk of becoming victims of cybercrime.

This program was developed from the UK Government’s ‘Cyber Essentials’ initiative, which was launched in 2014 as part of the UK National Cyber Security Strategy.

Cyber Essentials helps organizations identify, assess, and mitigate any risks within their IT systems and manage them accordingly. This is an important step in protecting customers as well as any sensitive data and intellectual property from malicious actors.

The assessment consists of five key elements: boundary firewalls and secure configurations; user access control; malware protection; patch management; and secure configuration. Organizations must provide evidence that they have implemented measures to ensure they comply with all criteria laid out by the assessment before being awarded certification. 

By undergoing the IASME Cyber Essentials process, organizations can demonstrate their commitment to protecting themselves against the most prevalent forms of cybercrime, including phishing attacks, malware infections, denial-of-service attacks, ransomware attacks, data breaches, unauthorised access to systems or networks and exploitation of vulnerable software or hardware components.

The British Standards Institute also states that for some government contracts, to it is mandatory for suppliers/contractors to hold a minimum level of certification provided by this scheme to be eligible for bidding processes. This demonstrates how important it is for businesses today to achieve a high level of assurance when protecting themselves against cybersecurity threats.