Free Cyber Essentials Readiness Assessment

Our assessment reviews your IT environment against the five Cyber Essentials technical controls: firewalls and internet gateways, secure configuration, access control, malware protection, and patch management. We examine your current setup, identify gaps that would cause a certification failure, and deliver a prioritised remediation plan with clear steps to close each gap. Cyber Essentials certified organisations are 92% less likely to claim on cyber insurance (IASME), making the assessment a valuable first step.

Cyber Essentials is a self-assessment questionnaire verified by a certification body, whilst Cyber Essentials Plus adds a hands-on technical audit where an assessor tests your systems directly. Plus provides stronger assurance and is increasingly required by clients and supply chain partners. Our readiness assessment prepares you for either level, and we recommend the appropriate tier based on your contractual obligations and risk profile.

Most organisations achieve Cyber Essentials certification within two to four weeks after completing our readiness assessment, depending on the number of gaps identified. Simple remediation tasks like enabling MFA or updating firewall rules can be completed in days. More complex items such as replacing unsupported operating systems may take longer. Only 40% of UK businesses have two-factor authentication enabled (DSIT 2025), so MFA enforcement is one of the most common gaps we address.

Yes. Our readiness assessment includes a detailed remediation report, and our engineers can implement the required changes directly in your environment. This covers configuring firewalls, enforcing access controls, deploying malware protection, applying patches, and hardening device configurations. We handle the technical work so your team does not need specialist security knowledge to achieve certification readiness.

Yes, the initial readiness assessment is completely free with no obligation. We review your environment, identify gaps against Cyber Essentials requirements, and provide a written report outlining what needs to change. With 43% of UK businesses experiencing a breach or attack in the past year (DSIT 2025), we believe every organisation should understand their security posture. If you choose to proceed with remediation or certification support, we provide a clear, fixed-price quote.