MP announces financial services adoption of Cyber Essentials as extra effort made for supply chain security.
Cyber Essentials is helping drive better cyber security across the economy, with the cybersecurity minister praising “rapid growth in the scheme.”
In a speech to mark ten years since the scheme was launched, and 190,000 certificates issues, Feryal Clark MP said she believes Cyber Essentials is working with new research showing that “Cyber Essentials is improving organisations’ awareness and understanding of the cybersecurity risk environment, enabling them to become more informed and confident in mitigating cyber risks.”
More Adoption
Saying more organisations are needed “to embed the Cyber Essentials controls and grasp the economic benefits of secure digital adoption”. In particular, Clark called for more adoption of Cyber Essentials in the supply chain, so that users may “gain tangible assurance that fundamental cybersecurity controls are in place, and they are protected from common cyber attacks.”
Clark also announced that the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) are supporting Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, NatWest, Santander UK and TSB to expand the role that Cyber Essentials plays in their supply chain risk management processes.
Raise the Level
The banks and government departments are aiming to raise the level of cybersecurity in critical national supply chains, by promoting and incorporating the scheme in supplier requirements.
“This collaboration aims to raise the levels of cybersecurity in critical national supply chains by exploring ways to expand the role of Cyber Essentials within their supplier assurance processes,” Clark said.
By expanding the role of Cyber Essentials in their supply chains, the collaboration of UK banks and building societies intend to increase efficiency for their procurement teams, who can more easily see that suppliers meet a minimum level of cybersecurity and streamline the due diligence process.
The agreement will also ensure consistency across suppliers that minimum standards have been met, raise minimum cybersecurity standards across the wider economy and increase the overall resilience of UK security, and increase efficiency for suppliers who will be able to provide evidence that they meet certain standards to multiple customers.
Written by
Dan Raywood
Senior Editor
SC Media UK
Dan Raywood is a B2B journalist with more than 20 years of experience, including covering cybersecurity for the past 16 years. He has extensively covered topics from Advanced Persistent Threats and nation-state hackers to major data breaches and regulatory changes.
He has spoken at events including 44CON, Infosecurity Europe, RANT Conference, BSides Scotland, Steelcon and ESET Security Days.
Outside work, Dan enjoys supporting Tottenham Hotspur, managing mischievous cats, and sampling craft beers.
