Introduction
If you’re a business looking to achieve your first cyber security standard, such as Cyber Essentials, the process will likely seem incredibly daunting. With the standard requiring different controls and configurations for all aspects of your IT systems, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed or understaffed, especially if you've never dealt with cyber security compliance before.
Fortunately, there is an easier way. Automating the compliance process can help simplify the whole process, keeping you secure and reducing the amount of manual work required to become complaint. In this article, we’ll explain why automating compliance with OneClickComply is a smart move and why a function like continuous monitoring is essential for both auditing purposes and for everyday security.
So What Actually is Cyber Essentials?
The Cyber Essentials compliance standard is a UK government-backed certification designed to help businesses protect themselves from the most common cyber threats. It achieves this by focusing on five key areas of cyber security:
- Firewalls
- Secure Configuration
- User Access Control
- Malware Protection
- Patch Management
There are two levels of Cyber Essentials certification: Cyber Essentials (CE) and Cyber Essentials Plus (CE+). We'll focus on the standard version for now, as CE+ requires a more in-depth, hands on approach.
What Value Does Cyber Essentials Provide?
Defence: By following the CE structure, you automatically improve your businesses defences against the most common cyber attacks, protecting yourself against the majority of cyber threats that your business might face day-to-day.
Creating Opportunities: By having a CE certification you become eligible to bid on UK Government contracts. This could open many doors for your business by giving you the chance to work on large projects and form new relationships within otherwise inaccessible sectors.
Building Trust: Not only does your certification open doors to new business, but it also helps strengthen the trust your current clients and suppliers have in you. Your certification is valid for 12 months and during that time, your name is added to a list of accredited businesses on the NCSC website. This means that anyone wishing to work with you, or use your services, can easily validate the fact that you take precautions to safeguard data, and that you operate within industry guidelines.
Here's Why Automating Compliance Makes Sense
- Simplifies the Entire Process
For businesses or teams new to compliance, OneclickComply breaks down the requirements into individual tasks, guiding you through the process step by step and allowing you to click "Fix this for me" to automatically complete the work. This significantly reduces the amount of time spent configuring your systems, which would otherwise be done manually, and ensures that your business is completely aligned with the standard's requirements.
- Reduces Errors
Manually managing compliance can lead to mistakes or misconfigurations that can leave your business vulnerable. Instead, automation ensures that these manual tasks are handled correctly and consistently, significantly the chance of errors that could lead to compliance failures.
- Continuous Monitoring
While achieving compliance in a standard is one thing, maintaining it is perhaps even more difficult. OneClickComply's continuous monitoring keeps your business secure by automatically detecting any non-compliance and offering instant remediations. This also helps prevent "compliance drift," where previously configured systems fall out of compliance over time due to a lack of regular updates or maintenance.
How OneClickComply Helps You Achieve Cyber Essentials
Our platform makes achieving and maintaining Cyber Essentials easier for your business by:
- Guiding You Through Compliance: The platform simplifies each step, making it easier to understand and meet requirements.
- Fixing Issues Automatically: Our “Fix this for me” approach automatically resolves compliance issues, saving you from hours of manual work or expensive outsourcing.
- Continuous Monitoring: The platform keeps your systems secure and compliant all year-round, fixing any gaps that arise through instant remediation.