To establish industry-wide best practices, businesses should participate in the Cyber Essentials program.
To address the growing sophistication of cyberattacks, cybersecurity standards such as Cyber Essentials are continuously updated. The certification for most standards and schemes has an expiration date.
The United Kingdom government highly recommends annual recertification for all certificate holders to remain on the official register of certified firms, which is updated as part of the annual review of cyber essentials.
The annual recertification process ensures that the certified firms are up to date with the latest cyber security requirements and are taking the necessary steps to protect against online threats. By staying on the official register, they are also able to demonstrate their commitment to cyber security to customers and partners.
For example, the recertification process may require companies to provide evidence of the security measures they have in place, such as data encryption and threat detection systems.
When to Receive Formal Cyber Essentials Certification for Your Business?
To apply for Cyber Essentials certification, you will need to pay a fee of £300 plus VAT and complete a self-assessment questionnaire. The certifying authority will then review your application, which may take up to six months. If you do not submit the questionnaire within this time frame, your application will be cancelled, and you will need to pay the fee again.
On average, small businesses take around two weeks to complete the evaluation. Once you have submitted your application, the certification organisation will typically respond within three days. If all requirements are met, you will receive the Cyber Essentials certification.
However, Cyber Essentials Plus certification typically requires an on-site audit and system vulnerability scan from a certified contractor, which can increase the time and cost of the process. The time it takes to obtain Cyber Essentials Plus certification depends on the size and pace of your business and can range from three to six months.
How Long Can One Use the Cyber Essentials Certifications?
Certification in Cyber Essentials is good for an undetermined amount of time. Nevertheless, the government of the United Kingdom recommends that accreditation be updated on a yearly basis. If you do not successfully renew your certification within the specified amount of time, your organisation’s name will be removed from the list of certified entities.
In the field of cyber security, new standards and recommendations for best practices are established on a daily basis. Your level of expertise with these advancements is going to determine how well you can protect your firm. Re-certification demonstrates to customers that you are dedicated to improving your security in the face of changing dangers and demonstrates this commitment.
You should get an email from your accreditation agency reminding you to recertify around one month before you are obliged to do so. As soon as you get this email, you should get started on preparing for the recertification that is coming up.
When Can I Expect My Recertification to Be Done?
Recertification is very similar to the first certification in a lot of different ways.
It is reasonable for you to anticipate receiving your amended certification within three days of submitting your review; this is in line with the time frames that were previously specified.
Because the recertification questionnaire is changed on an annual basis to reflect the changing security landscape and the increased demand for cybersecurity professionals, you will need to re-enter all of the original material from your prior applications, so you should set aside some time and resources for this task.
If, at any point, the way security is implemented at your firm is altered, your responses will need to reflect that. If there have been no significant shifts since the previous survey, you can simply reuse the responses you provided then.
In order to maintain your official Cyber Essentials certification, both you and your company are required to re-certify on an annual basis. If you fail to renew your certification under the system on an annual basis, there is nowhere to hide because the names of all businesses that are currently accredited are placed on a record that is accessible to the public.
