After achieving Cyber Essentials, many businesses ask the next logical question: “Should we go for Cyber Essentials Plus?” The short answer: it depends on your customers, contracts, and risk profile.
What is Cyber Essentials Plus?
Cyber Essentials Plus builds on standard Cyber Essentials by adding independent technical testing. Instead of assessing answers to questions alone, Cyber Essentials Plus verifies that technical controls are working in practice. This provides a higher level of assurance.
Why businesses choose Cyber Essentials Plus
Sussex businesses often choose Cyber Essentials Plus when:
- Customers require stronger security assurance
- Public‑sector or regulated work is involved
- They want confidence that the technical controls are actually effective
It’s also a strong signal of maturity compared to self‑assessment alone.
Common surprises during Cyber Essentials Plus (and how to avoid them)
Most issues surface because of:
- Inconsistent updates on one or two devices
- Old firewall rules that no one remembers
- Admin access that was meant to be temporary
- Unsupported software is installed on devices
- Forgetting to inlude employee owned devices in the scope
Preparation is the key to avoiding these surprises.
How to prepare sensibly for Cyber Essentials Plus
A structured approach works best:
- Confirm your scope
- Standardise patching across all devices
- Tighten access control
- Verify endpoint protection coverage
- Review external exposure
Why a local Certification Body and MSP helps
Cyber Essentials Plus requires both technical readiness and assessment coordination.
As a Sussex‑based MSP and Cyber Essentials Certification Body, we can:
- Prepare your environment
- Ensure that all technical controls are correctly implemented
- Fix issues quickly if found
- Manage the process end-to-end
Final thoughts
Cyber Essentials Plus shouldn’t be stressful with the right preparation; it’s simply a validation of what you already do.
If you’re considering Cyber Essentials Plus, speak to a local Sussex Certification Body who can guide you properly from start to finish.