Digital security is a necessity in an age where attacks and data exfiltration are commonplace. Hosting and managing hundreds of websites and systems also means handling a lot of valuable information. Keeping that data safe is a responsibility we take very seriously.
Cyber Essentials Plus is a UK Government-backed scheme designed to demonstrate organisations’ resilience against cyber attack. It ensures our systems are up-to-date, secure and fit for purpose, meaning our clients can rest assured that they are working with a business that is confident in its digital security.
The standard Cyber Essentials certification covers these five main areas:
- Boundary firewalls and internet gateways
- Secure configuration
- Access controls
- Malware protection
- Patch management
As part of the Plus version of the certification, Infotex underwent an independent external technical audit by URM Consulting, to ensure that necessary technical controls are in place for the security of our systems. A random sample of staff were selected to be audited – making sure their work environment is up to date and secured. Our in-house infrastructure team periodically review all devices, to ensure they are all configured correctly. By passing, we are proving our internal processes, policies and security controls are in line with National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) standards
Having previously completed Cyber Essentials Plus, the biggest change for this year is that all cloud services admin accounts offering multi-factor authentication must now have that enabled. In fact Infotex have gone one further and enabled it on all cloud services where that is feasible. Alongside this, minimum password length has been increased for any accounts, something reflecting the increasingly hostile online environment where password cracking tech continues to improve. We have also now disabled that stalwart browser of the last two decades Internet Explorer on all our Windows devices to bring that chapter of the web to a close.
Much like a car MOT, Cyber Essentials Plus is the minimum that we work to. We go above and beyond this with regular reminders and training, both face-to-face and virtual being provided to all Infotex staff to keep security in mind with both our practices, device configurations and website development processes to make sure we are doing all we can to maintain our ongoing cyber security knowing that forms a part of our clients also.
If you are looking at your businesses cyber security then undertaking Cyber Essentials Plus is something that we’d thoroughly recommend. It is a way to focus the company on the aspects which will give you the greatest security benefit against the attacks which are ongoing in the real world as the NCSC evolves the standard every year based upon the attack data that they witness in the real world.
