Ultimate Guide to Cyber Essentials for Charities and Nonprofits

Share This Post

Charities and nonprofits are increasingly relying on technology for fundraising, communication, and operations. This means they are faced with a growing need to protect their digital assets from cyber threats. Cybercrime is a growing concern amongst charities throughout the UK. The Charity Fraud Report was a survey that examined many different charity fraud examples and perceptions about them. According to the report, 41% thought cybercrime would pose the biggest fraud risk for their charity over the next 12 months.

This guide will provide an overview of Cyber Essentials, a UK government-backed cybersecurity certification scheme. It is designed to help charities and nonprofits stay secure and resilient in the face of these threats. We will cover the benefits of Cyber Essentials, how to become certified, and best practices for maintaining cyber security. This guide will provide actionable insights to help you secure your organisation against cyber threats.

Cyber Essentials for charities

What is Cyber Essentials?

Cyber Essentials is a UK government-backed cybersecurity certification scheme that was launched in 2014. Its purpose is to help organisations protect themselves against common cyber threats. It outlines a set of basic security controls that organisations must implement to safeguard their systems and data.

The certification shows that an organisation has taken necessary steps to protect itself against cyber attacks. This effectively guards against the loss of data, revenue, and reputation. Cyber Essentials certification provides organisations with a framework to follow in order to protect their data from cyber attacks.

Cyber Essentials mainly focuses on 5 areas of cyber security:

  • Boundary Firewalls and Internet Gateways – Firewalls and gateways help to keep attackers or external threats from gaining access to your system in the first place.
  • Secure Configuration – Secure configuration refers to security measures implemented when building and installing computers and network devices to reduce unnecessary cyber vulnerabilities.
  • Access Control – Cyber Essentials Certification requires that you control access to your data through user accounts, that administrative privileges are only given to those that need them, and that what an administrator can do with those accounts is controlled.
  • Malware Protection – Cyber Essentials also requires you to implement a malware protection mechanism on all devices in scope.
  • Patch Management – Patch management is about keeping software on computers and network devices up to date and capable of resisting low-level cyber attacks. Cyber Essentials requires this.

With Cyber Essentials, there are two different levels to the scheme:

  1. Cyber Essentials
  2. Cyber Essentials Plus

Cyber Essentials

Cyber Essentials self-assessment option gives your charity protection against a wide variety of the most common cyber attacks. This certification offers you peace of mind that your defences will protect against the vast majority of common cyber attacks. This is because these attacks are looking for targets which do not have the Cyber Essentials technical controls in place.

Cyber Essentials Plus

Cyber Essentials Plus is the second level of the scheme. It still has the same Cyber Essentials trademark and required protections as the Cyber Essentials. The difference is that a hands-on technical verification is carried out.

cyber essentials for charities

What are the benefits of Cyber Essentials Certification for Charities?

Becoming Cyber Essentials certified provides numerous benefits to charities. The main benefits of Cyber Essential Certification for charities are:

  1. Enhance the security for your charity – Cyber Essentials gives your charity more awareness of your current cyber security.
  2. Proactive approach to charity cyber security and protection against common cyber threats – this can be done by Implementing the security controls outlined in Cyber Essentials which will effectively reduce the risk of cyber attacks and data breaches on your charity.
  3. Increase donor confidence – Donors are more likely to trust an organisation that prioritises cybersecurity and is committed to safeguarding their personal information.
  4. Helps charities comply with UK data protection regulations like GDPR – By identifying potential security vulnerabilities, charities can reduce their exposure to legal risks associated with data breaches.
  5. 4. Simplified procurement – the government requires all contractors and suppliers to hold an up-to-date Cyber Essentials certificate. This applies to all companies carrying that handle sensitive data for or on behalf of the government. We at Qlic are Cyber Essentials certified!

How your Charity can get Accreditation

Not only is Qlic Cyber Essentials certified, but we can also help your charity to become certified with our cyber security for charities! We help your charity to pass the Cyber Essentials criteria and become certified with ease.

We also suggest Cyber Essentials insurance. The presence of cyber insurance will provide vital incident response services and cover your costs in your hour of need. The insurance provided with certification gives you £25,000 limit of indemnity. However, you may want to purchase a higher limit of cover in case you suffer a severe breach.

The NCSC’s Cyber Essentials Partner the IASME consortium is another company that can help your charity become certified. The NCSC stands for National Cyber Security Centre and provides cyber security governance for charities.

Cyber Essentials for charities

Can Charities Get Cyber Essentials For Free?

The NCSC’s IASME offers eligible charity organisations a certain amount of time with expert support. This is to help you implement the five criteria measures needed to gain Cyber Essentials certification. This is then followed by verification that the criteria measures are in place in order to achieve the Cyber Essentials certification.

This offer is currently running for small charities that process personal data. For example, eligible nonprofits would include those working in safeguarding such as domestic abuse charities or online chat support services.

The pricing structure was revised in January 2023 (source: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/information/cyber-essentials-prices-2022)

Get started with the Cyber Essentials readiness toolkit

Charities and nonprofits looking to become Cyber Essentials certified should initially take a look at Cyber Essentials readiness toolkit. The Cyber Essentials toolkit provides a list of questions designed to help you learn more about your current cyber security within your organisation. Each question will prompt you to consider a different aspect of security. This will help you to become certified while also providing great cyber security training for charities.

Final Thoughts on Cyber Essentials for Charities

In conclusion, charities and nonprofits are increasingly relying on technology to carry out their work. As a result, they are facing the growing threat of cyber attacks and data breaches. Cyber Essentials certification is a great government-backed scheme designed to help charities protect against these threats.

In this ultimate guide to Cyber Essentials for charities and nonprofits, we have explored the benefits of Cyber Essentials certification. We have also covered how to become certified and best practices for maintaining cybersecurity.

Charities and nonprofits of all sizes can use these insights to take action to reduce their risk of cyber attacks. This will ensure that they are protecting their organisation, donors, and supporters. Remember, cyber security is not a one-and-done task but a continuous effort to stay ahead of evolving cyber threats.

If you would like to know more about Cyber Essentials, book your free Cyber Essentials consultation by clicking the button below!

More to discover

Get in Touch

Please fill in the form below and we will get back to you shortly.

Get a Quote

Please fill in the form below and we will get back to you shortly.

Book Your Free IT Consultation

We offer free IT advice and consultancy to all organisations. Let us know what you’re interested in below so we can book your free IT consultation.