Mandatory for UK government suppliers. Increasingly required by enterprise procurement, cyber insurers, and regulated sector contracts. 786 Cyber covers all 5 control categories — policies, controls, roadmap, and evidence vault included.
What is Cyber Essentials?
Cyber Essentials is a UK government-backed certification developed by the NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre). It defines five fundamental technical controls that protect organisations against the most common cyber threats — covering around 80% of the attacks that target UK businesses.
There are two levels: Cyber Essentials (self-assessed, verified by an accredited assessor) and Cyber Essentials Plus (independently verified through technical testing). Both require the same five control categories — CE Plus adds a hands-on technical audit on top.
Certification is valid for 12 months and must be renewed annually. 786 Cyber tracks renewal dates and alerts you before they lapse.
Who needs Cyber Essentials?
Mandatory for any contract involving personal data or network access to government systems.
Large enterprises increasingly require CE from all suppliers before onboarding — regardless of contract size.
Insurers use CE certification as a baseline for cover eligibility and premium calculation.
Even without a legal requirement, CE is the recognised signal that a business takes security seriously.
Certification body
NCSC — National Cyber Security Centre
Renewal
Annual
The five control categories
786 Cyber generates the policies, controls, and evidence required for all five — automatically.
Boundary and device-level firewall configuration to prevent unauthorised access
Remove unused software, change default passwords, apply auto-lock and screen timeouts
Least privilege access, remove unused accounts, MFA for admin and remote access
Anti-malware software active, application whitelisting where appropriate
Operating systems and applications patched within 14 days of a critical update
Many Cyber Essentials controls satisfy requirements in ISO 27001, UK GDPR, and NIST CSF simultaneously. 786 Cyber's tagging system tracks this automatically — implement once, progress across multiple frameworks.
Why it matters
The certification is straightforward. What it unlocks commercially — and what non-compliance costs you — is often underestimated.
"For most UK SMEs, Cyber Essentials is where the security journey starts. It's not the destination — but nothing else is accessible without it."
Sample extract
This extract is from a roadmap generated for Meridian Consulting Ltd — a fictional 47-person UK professional services firm with no prior certifications. It shows the priority controls, progress tracking, and cross-framework tags your team would see after running the Compliance Wizard.
Want to see your organisation's real roadmap?
Sign up free and run the Compliance Wizard — your personalised Cyber Essentials roadmap in under 10 minutes. Start now →
View as:
Progress by control category
Priority actions
Sample extract only. Sign up free to generate your real roadmap.
Certification checklist
786 Cyber generates the policies, maps the controls, and tracks your progress across all of these automatically.
How 786 Cyber helps
786 Cyber covers the full certification journey — from first assessment to renewal reminder.
6-step assessment identifies your CE gaps, prioritises actions, and produces a clear roadmap — in under 10 minutes.
Acceptable Use, Password, Remote Working, and BYOD policies generated and pre-populated for your organisation — ready to publish.
CE controls tagged to ISO 27001, GDPR, and NIST CSF simultaneously. One action satisfies multiple frameworks.
Visual progress rings per CE control category — see exactly where you are and what's left before certification.
Every control implementation logged automatically. When the assessor asks for evidence, it's already compiled.
CE certification is annual. 786 Cyber tracks your renewal date and alerts you before it lapses — keeping you continuously certified.
CE Plus adds independent technical verification on top of the CE documentation. 786 Cyber handles the complete documentation layer — all policies, controls, and evidence — so you're ready for the assessor from day one.
Run the Compliance Wizard free — get your personalised CE roadmap in under 10 minutes. No security expertise needed.
MSP delivering CE to clients: enquire about the partner programme →