Cyber threats have become an inevitable danger for businesses. It is no longer a question of if, but when a cyber-attack will take place and disrupt the operations of your organisation. As a result of this growing threat, cybersecurity has now become a responsibility rather than a luxury.
The security of the code for our visitor management system is not really covered by Cyber Essentials. Cyber Essentials focusses more on the approach a business should take in its day to day running and as such is applicable to all our clients.
Regardless of the size of business or school, small or large, organisations must emphasize the importance of cybersecurity, since the costs associated with cyber-attacks can put them out of business.
In this article, we will discuss Cyber Essentials and the various benefits of Cyber Essentials for businesses regardless of whether they use our visitor management system or not.
What Is Cyber Essentials?
Cyber Essentials is an industry-supported scheme backed by the UK Government that helps businesses protect themselves against the growing threat of cyber-attacks. The standard provides a clear statement of basic controls that organisations should have in place to protect themselves against cyber threats.
A Cyber Essentials certification brings several benefits for the organization, including protection against the most common types of cyber threats. The scheme has been designed for all businesses as cyber-attacks can impact organisations of all sizes, sectors, and industries. Here are three reasons why Cyber Essentials is important.
Benefits of Cyber Essentials
1. Protects organization from common cyber threats
Cyber attackers are always looking to exploit the basic weaknesses such as a lack of well-configured firewalls or updated software. The five technical controls within the Cyber Essentials scheme when implemented, offer the organization protection against such common cyber threats. The five controls that Cyber Essentials focuses on include firewalls, secure configuration, phishing, control users access, and anti-malware. As developers of the amazing visitor management system DigiGreet you would expect us to be completely on top of secure coding but what we found particularly useful was thinking about user access for normal business activity. For example, directors have very high levels of access, but do they need to use a login with admin rights every day? Actually not, in fact they rarely need admin level access, so why have a login with such rights, they should have two logins, a day to day login and an admin login they only use when they need to… We found there were a number of things like this, so as a result are better protected as a result of Cyber Essentials.
2. Prepares the organization for being GDPR compliant
If businesses in the European Union are found to be negligent to the GDPR compliance in the event of a data breach, they can face a fine of up to 4% of their global turnover. Getting the Cyber Essentials certification can help businesses in avoiding such heavy fines and prepare them for GDPR compliance. Of course, GDPR compliance requires much more than the five controls offered by Cyber Essentials. But it allows businesses to audit internal security, thus marking the first step towards a better preparation for GDPR compliance.
3. Increased credibility and reputation
Achieving Cyber Essentials certification shows customers and vendors that your business takes cybersecurity seriously. It depicts your commitment to protecting your own data and that of your clients and customers. The Cyber Essentials certification increases the credibility and reputation of your organization and shows that your business is taking preventive action to reduce cyber threats.
Final Thoughts
The DigiGreet Visitor Management System is separate, on the Government portal and as such safe and secure but the overall company is now Cyber Essentials certified. It means that the general business practices are safeguarded under the five controls defined by the UK Government scheme. If your business or school is looking for a Cyber Essentials certified visitor management system, get in touch with DigiGreet for any further information that you might need.
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