Protect your business with Cyber Essentials
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Trusted by thousands of businesses
across the UK
How to get Cyber Essentials certified
There are four simple steps to how you get your Cyber Essentials certification:
Get your self-assessment questionnaire: Once you’re onboard, you’ll get access to the self-assessment questionnaire in our Atlas platform
Complete the questionnaire: Work through the questionnaire in Atlas and access support and tips if you need.
Review it before you submit: Our team will review your answers and flag anything that needs changing so you’re ready.
Pass and get certified: Once you pass, you’ll receive your Cyber Essentials certificate that’s valid for 12 months.
What is Cyber Essentials?
Cyber Essentials accreditation is a government-backed scheme introduced in 2014. The certification was made as a minimum standard of cyber security for UK organisations of any size and sector. Cyber Essentials certification shows you’ve got the give key controls in place.
Why is Cyber Essentials so important?
Cyber attacks target small and mid-sized businesses constantly because attackers expect weaker defences.
The fallout from a breach can be serious: customer data stolen, systems held to ransom, weeks of downtime, and a reputation that takes a lot longer to rebuild than the attack took to happen.
Cyber Essentials certification is built around the controls that make the biggest difference to reduce cyber incidents by around 80%.
Who is Cyber Essentials for?
Any business can benefit from Cyber Essentials, whatever your size or sector. It’s especially valuable if you:
- Work in IT or technology, where clients expect proof of strong security
- Supply the NHS or wider healthcare sector
- Bid for UK government or public-sector contracts
Win more contracts
Cyber Essentials is mandatory for many UK government and MOD contracts – without it, you can’t bid.
Build trust
It’s a recognised, government-backed certification that shows you take security seriously.
Lower insurance premiums
Certified businesses may qualify for better rates from leading insurers.
What Cyber Essentials checks
Cyber Essentials assesses your business against five technical controls set out by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to stop the most common cyber attacks succeeding.
Secure configuration
Set up systems securely to minimise ways that a cyber-criminal can find a way in
User access control
Limit who can access your data and what they can do with it
Security update management
Patch known vulnerabilities before threat actors can exploit them
Firewalls and malware protection
Create a strong barrier against threats and stop malicious software before it causes harm
Our Cyber Essentials support options
Getting certified isn’t always straightforward, especially the first time. That’s why we offer two levels of expert support.
Right for most SMEs. We’ll review your self-assessment before submission, work through any sticky areas, and make sure you’re on the right track before you hit submit.
For when you need more time, or a hand from start to finish. Right for tight deadlines, or more complex setups like councils and universities. We’ll guide you through every step.
Why choose Citation Cyber for your Cyber Essentials certification
- Step-by-step guidance from certification specialists
- Transparent pricing, no onboarding fees or hidden extras
- 98% customer success rate
- 1-to-1 support at every stage
- 12 months of UK government-backed certification
What’s included in Cyber Essentials certification
Review of current set-up against the five controls
Application support from our team, start to finish
Access to the questionnaire via Atlas
Cyber Essentials certificate on passing
Why our customers love us
See what people say about working with Citation Cyber
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Amanda BaileyAn extremely friendly, knowledgeable, and experienced team from start to finish.
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Brian WheatleyCitation Cyber have been outstanding throughout what has been a challenging test this year, Lee (Cyber Essentials Assessor) has been brilliant from start to finish, he’s understood the challenges and advised and accommodated every question. BIG thanks from MLA.
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Clare BaldwinWe were really appreciative of Citation Cyber’s Responsiveness to us as our penetration testing needed to be completed very quickly and were able to accommodate this. Communication from the team was really good and the report was comprehensive and easy to follow for us and our developers.
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Jason CassA fantastic service done by Citation again for our Cyber Essentials Plus award. The engineers within the company work to a very high standard and work well with the customer to explain along the way anything that is raised. They are on-hand to answer any questions, and explain the findings and resolution to aid the certification. A top-quality company that is highly recommended!
Frequently Asked Questions
It’s a UK government-backed certification that shows you’ve got the basics of cyber security in place. It helps protect your business from the most common cyber threats and proves to your clients, partners, and insurers that you take security seriously.
If you want to win government contracts, handle sensitive data, or know your business is protected then yes. It’s especially useful if you work with supply chains, finance, healthcare, or public sector clients.
You’ll complete a self-assessment questionnaire based around five key security controls – things like how you manage passwords, update software, and use firewalls. We review your answers, help close any gaps, and issue your certificate.
Cyber Essentials is a self-assessment. Cyber Essentials Plus includes a hands-on technical audit – an auditor tests your systems to make sure everything’s watertight. It’s the next level up for businesses with higher risks or more complex needs.