Cyber Essentials
Certification support
Cyber Essentials
We get your business ready for Cyber Essentials — identifying and fixing anything that could cause a failure, completing the assessment paperwork and supporting you through certification.
Our engineers take care of the forms and the fixes, so you can go into your assessment with confidence
Why Cyber Essentials?
Cyber Essentials support that’s built around you
Cyber Essentials is the government-backed cybersecurity certification scheme, developed by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). It shows your business is protected against the most common cyber attacks. More and more customers, insurers and public sector contracts now ask for it.
Qualifying UK organisations may also receive cyber liability insurance as part of their Cyber Essentials certification.
IT3 isn’t a certification body, so we don’t award the certificate ourselves. Instead, we do the hard work beforehand. We review your systems against the current requirements, fix anything that would cause a fail, and complete the self-assessment question set on your behalf. When it’s submitted to an accredited certification body, your business is in the strongest position possible.
How we help
Getting you ready for certification
01
Readiness Check
We audit your devices, network, cloud services and user accounts against the current Cyber Essentials requirements, and show you exactly where the gaps are.
02
Remediation
We fix what needs fixing: firewall rules, patching, multi-factor authentication, admin accounts, anti-malware and unsupported software. We plan and carry out the necessary work with minimum disruption to your business.
03
The Paperwork
We complete the self-assessment question set for you, with accurate and consistent answers that are backed by evidence of how your systems are actually set up.
04
Submission & Support
We help you submit to an accredited certification body and deal with any follow-up questions from the assessor. Then we keep you compliant ready for renewal.
What is checked?
The five technical controls
Cyber Essentials assesses your business against five technical controls. The requirements are updated every year. Since April 2026, assessments use version 3.3 of the requirements and the new “Danzell” question set, which includes stricter rules on patching and on multi-factor authentication for cloud services.
We keep up with these changes so you don’t have to.
- Firewalls: boundary firewalls and routers are configured correctly.
- Secure configuration: default passwords are changed and unnecessary software is removed.
- Security update management: high-risk and critical security updates and vulnerability fixes are applied within 14 days of release.
- User access control: accounts are managed properly and MFA is enabled for all cloud services where available.
- Malware protection: every in-scope device has active protection.
Going further
Preparing for Cyber Essentials Plus
Cyber Essentials Plus covers the same five controls, but it adds a hands-on technical audit of your systems by the certification body.
We prepare your environment for the technical audit beforehand — including patching, device security, user privileges, MFA and externally exposed services — so problems are found by us, not by the assessor.
Ready to get certified?
Give us a call on 0330 20 20 321 or email enquiries@it3.co.uk and we’ll talk you through the process.
Take a look at the other services we offer
We don’t just offer Cyber Essentials!
Fully Managed IT Systems →
We’ll fully manage your IT systems, from hardware to broadband.
Security Reset (Ironclad) →
A complete review and hardening of your business’s security setup.
Managed Firewalls →
A managed firewall helps protect your business from cyber threats.
Vulnerability Scans →
Find the weaknesses in your systems before someone else does.
IT Support →
Proactive IT support to keep your systems running smoothly.
Office 365 →
Microsoft 365 management, including MFA and secure configuration.
