We’re Cyber Essentials Plus Accredited!

Did you know that 64% of companies worldwide have experienced a cyber-attack? A huge 46% of UK businesses faced a breach within the past 12 months. This figure has risen sharply since 2020, when many teams were forced to adopt home working practices that saw some of their most valuable systems become vulnerable to cyber-criminals.

This is a startling figure, especially because if a business has been attacked once it’s then 50% more likely to be targeted again in future. With the majority of incidents costing thousands to resolve, it pays to be prepared.

That’s why at Chalvington we’re now Cyber Essentials Plus Accredited. This scheme started by the government is designed to help IT providers like us to provide industry-leading cyber-security services to businesses around the country and to provide an effective way to prevent increasingly common online threats.

Becoming accredited means that our staff have undergone rigorous, independently verified tests to ensure that we can address some of the most crucial cyber-security areas of concern for businesses. This includes but is not limited to:

Firewalls – We offer a range of state-of-the-art firewalls, tailoring a solution based on the devices that you use, and the needs of your team. We even offer new, Next-Generation Firewall or NGFW solutions. These use machine learning to detect threats that consumer-grade solutions are more liable to miss.

Updates and Patch Management – Making sure your systems are always up to date is a brilliant way to stay secure. The devastating hack of the NHS in 2017 was entirely caused by a lack of oversight, their IT was running on older versions that didn’t have the right security systems, and they were an easy target. Our service means that we’ll be able to spot any devices that are flagging behind and make sure that they aren’t a liability to your network.

User Awareness and Sophos Phish Threat – A huge number of cyber-crimes occurs because of errors made by staff, it can be something as seemingly innocuous as sharing a link to a meeting, or falling for a phishing Email.

Our User Awareness course includes a monthly recurring product name Sophos Phish. This service sends your staff an authentic phishing Email every month, through this you can see which members of staff know to avoid the scam, and which fall for it. If any do fall for the Email, then they are automatically directed to an educational video letting them know what to avoid next time. The system logs which staff view the video and any that don’t.

 We can also advise your management team about user controls; not every member of staff needs to be able to access every feature of your business IT. We can help you weigh up the safety benefits of limiting privileges to unauthorised individuals, helping to create a more comprehensive plan.

The Cyber Essentials Plus Accreditation is one of the highest cyber-security certifications a business can access in the UK. At Chalvington, we’ve taken every step to ensure that our IT package is comprehensive and having a wealth of security knowledge is a huge part of this. It also informs how we handle related topics, such as how your business can stay compliant with the latest GDPR regulations.

We’re proud to say that we passed this rigorous testing with flying colours. If you’re not sure about the safety of your business IT, looking for a replacement for an outgoing IT manager, or are just thinking about upgrading some of your systems, speak to Chalvington. Our accredited experts are on hand to help. We believe that this certification will eventually be a requirement