News

The NCSC Cyber Essentials requirements for IT infrastructure has been updated to v3.0

Consequently, from January 24th 2022, an updated Cyber Essentials question set (known as ‘Evendine’) will come into play.

The IASME website has the updated requirements document and the updated question set, along with a blog which provides more detail about the changes and the reasons behind them.

Here at Consult MB Ltd, we conducted comprehensive covert open source intelligence to investigate the ‘Evendine’ code word for you. Whilst Evendine Spring is in the vicinity of IASME HQ, our first hit on Google was for a care home. Their website mentions ‘commitment’, ‘quality’ and ‘care’. Job done:)

If you’re planning to undertake Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus please get in touch via our contact us page.

The IASME Charity Campaign week runs from 8-12 November 2021. Consult MB Ltd is a licensed certification body for Cyber Essentials, Cyber Essentials Plus and IASME Governance. Based in Weston-super-Mare we support organisations throughout Somerset, Bristol, Gloucestershire and Devon.
If you are a registered charity and you sign up and pay for Cyber Essentials during the campaign week you will pay the discounted price of £225 +VAT for Cyber Essentials certification.

Please check out the IASME website or contact us for more information.

We’re pleased to confirm that Consult MB Ltd will be supporting the IASME Charity Campaign week 8-12 November 2021. Consult MB Ltd is a licensed certification body for Cyber Essentials, Cyber Essentials Plus and IASME Governance. Based in Weston-super-Mare we support organisations throughout Somerset, Bristol, Gloucestershire and Devon.

If you are a registered charity and you sign up and pay for Cyber Essentials during the campaign week you will pay the discounted price of £225 +VAT for Cyber Essentials certification.

Please check out the IASME website or contact us for more information.

In August the NCSC reported the creation of a new service where the public can report scam websites directly to the NCSC, potentially leading to the NCSC requiring the hosting provider to take down the malicious site.

This new service is in addition to the NCSC’s  Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS) where the public can forward suspected scam emails to report@phishing.gov.uk.

We’re pleased to announce that Consult MB Ltd based in Somerset has qualified as an Internet of Things (IoT) Security Assured Certification Body.

The UK Government is planning to bring in legislation to compel IoT device manufacturers to provide basic security, and the ‘IoT Security Assured’ scheme is expected to be selected by the Government as the required standard.

IoT Security Assured certification is available in three tiers: Basic, Silver and Gold. The Basic level is aligned with proposed UK legislation and covers the top three requirements of the ETSI standard. The Silver level is aligned with the ETSI mandatory requirements and Data Protection provisions. The Gold level is aligned with the ETSI mandatory requirements as well as all the additional ETSI recommended requirements and Data Protection provisions.

The cost of the certification is the same (£500 + VAT) across the tiers. For more information please check out the IASME IoT webpage, or contact us.

NCSC Training for Small Organisations and Charities

In May the NCSC launched a new training programme aimed at small organisations and charities which covers five key areas:

1.            Backing up data correctly

2.            Protecting against malware

3.            Keeping devices secure

4.            Strong passwords

5.            Defending against phishing

The training has been deliberately designed for a non-technical audience who may have little or no knowledge of cyber security.

Consult MB Ltd also provide cyber security awareness training, please get in contact if you’d like to discuss your awareness training needs.

NCSC and IASME have announced a new tool that can be used to discover how ready your organisation is in terms of applying for Cyber Essentials. The tool asks simple questions about your use of hardware, software, and boundary devices such as firewalls, as well as use of passwords and anti-malware. Based on the answers, the tool provides a customised action plan that outlines the steps needed to prepare for the Cyber Essentials certification process.

Please try out the tool here: https://getreadyforcyberessentials.iasme.co.uk/questions/

If you need any more information please contact us. Consult MB Ltd is a licensed Certification Body for Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus serving customers in Bristol, Somerset and throughout the West Country.

The EUROPOL Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment (SOCTA) for 2021 was released this month. https://www.europol.europa.eu/activities-services/main-reports/european-union-serious-and-organised-crime-threat-assessment

It’s an interesting high level read. The first topic discussed in the section about the main criminal activities is cybercrime which EUROPOL say is on the increase both in terms of the number of attacks but also the sophistication of attacks.

Last week the NCSC launched a cyber security self-assessment tool to help sole traders and micro businesses evaluate their cyber security profile and create a cyber action plan. The self-assessment only takes a few minutes to complete and produces recommended actions at the end. The scope of the self-assessment is similar to what is covered by the NCSC’s Small Business Guide and its associated videos.  If you’d like support with your own cyber security assessment, please get in contact with Consult MB Ltd, we’d be glad to help.