More and more businesses get Cyber Essentials and keep renewing it. With Lupasafe, you can speed up your Cyber Essentials reports and improve your cyber security beyond the standard requirements. In this blog we´ll tell you all about it.
Introduction to Lupasafe Automated Cyber Essentials (ACE)
Saving users time and money we have created a Lupasafe dashboard of the IT security controls and risks required for the UK’s Cyber Essentials. Over 27,000 unique businesses in the UK have this standard, with over 300 practices to certify them. Lupasafe has now automated the core security reporting to save businesses up to 8hours work compiling them, speeding up applications, and annual certification, as well as providing continuous insight.
How Automated Cyber Essentials works.
Lupasafe saves you time by automatically reporting on the status of technical controls required for Cyber Essentials. Tech support can then review the scope and findings, make the fixes or remediations where required to ensure everything is in place. Items that are fixed will be reviewed thanks to continuous assessments. Clients will still need to provide the administrative information for an application to be completed via IASME (e.g. company name, contacts, policy decisions, confirm you are actually running regular backups).
Lupasafe’s report is available via the dashboards, and to export as an excel or CSV.
Lupasafe runs review of IT controls across all offices, work from home, computer networks, computers and cloud. For the cyber essentials report, Lupasafe identifies: Active work stations, servers, mobile devices, networks; Firewalls on assets and exposed services; Mail breaches; Browsers, email and office applications; MFA, admin rights checks; Antivirus installation and enablement
As a continuous service Lupasafe users can maintain constant vigilance of cyber standards within the business and renew easily.
Why more and more businesses get Cyber Essentials and keep growing
Cyber Essentials are well known for providing a clear standard to aim for, and eligibility for public sector contacts. In a UK government review of Cyber Essentials, the survey of users shows that customer reassurance, security and resilience, and contractual requirements are all key drivers for just under 50% of all businesses surveyed.
Simple steps to speed up your Cyber Essentials reports
1. Open your Lupasafe dashboard
2. Review the Lupasafe main dashboard:
Are there gaps in day to day vulnerabilities that will mean you don’t qualify for cyber essentials? You can review the checklist here.
- Boundary Firewalls and Internet Gateways
- Secure Configuration
- Malware protection
- Patch management
3. Tap the Cyber Essentials button
4. Open the dashboard
5. You can scroll down in any of the sections for more data
6. Tap ‘Export as report’ for the option to export the data as a report
7. Copy from the excel sheet of report data into the iasme application form
8. You can scroll down in any of the sections for more data
9. Tap ‘Export as report’ for the option to export the data as a report
10. Copy from the excel sheet of report data into the iasme application form
Example Lupasafe Cyber Essentials report data and IASME templates
The IASME Cyber Essentials questionnaire.
Improving security beyond Cyber Essentials
Cyber Essentials are just that – the minimum viable product for businesses as agreed by the UK’s national cyber security agency, but self-managed. Cyber Essentials Plus is a level higher. An external party is required to validate systems and processes. NIS2 is the compliance standard for Europe. Validated for each EU country it is the benchmark for large and essential businesses but also their supply chains.
Lupasafe for Cyber Essentials, Cyber Essentials Plus, and NIS2
| Certification + Features | Lupasafe Essentials | Lupasafe |
| Cyber Essentials | X | X |
| Cyber Essentials Plus | X | |
| NIS2 | X | |
| Features | ||
| Dashboard | X | X |
| Phishing & awareness training, testing* | X | |
| Basic vulnerability detection: routers, websites | X | X |
| Endpoints, software | X | X |
| Internal networks | X | |
| 365 Cloud audit | X | |
| Dark web | X | X |
| Prioritised insights | X | X |
The basics of Cyber Essentials
Cyber Essentials is a cybersecurity certification program developed by the UK government to help organizations improve their cybersecurity posture and demonstrate their commitment to cyber hygiene. The core elements of Cyber Essentials include:
- Boundary Firewalls and Internet Gateways:
Ensuring that internet-connected devices are protected by firewalls or gateway devices to control incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predetermined security rules.
- Secure Configuration:
Configuring devices and software securely to minimize vulnerabilities. This includes applying security patches promptly, disabling unnecessary services, and using strong, unique passwords.
- Access Control:
Implementing appropriate user access controls to ensure that only authorized individuals have access to systems, data, and resources based on the principle of least privilege.
- Malware Protection:
Deploying anti-malware solutions (such as antivirus software) across all devices to detect and prevent malicious software infections. Regularly updating and scanning systems for malware is also essential.
- Patch Management:
Establishing processes to regularly update and patch operating systems, applications, and firmware to address known vulnerabilities and protect against exploits.
Achieving Cyber Essentials certification involves demonstrating compliance with these core elements through self-assessment or external assessment by a certification body. The certification helps organizations strengthen their cybersecurity defenses, reduce common cyber threats, and enhance their overall cyber resilience.
Find out more and sign in to use Lupasafe: https://lupasafe.com/sign-up/
