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Cyber Essentials (NCSC)

Practice: Cybersecurity · Type: Scheme · UK-specific

Cyber Essentials is a UK government-backed certification scheme run by the NCSC that covers five fundamental technical control themes: firewalls, secure configuration, security update management, user access control and malware protection.

Benefits​

  • Scored on Cyber Essentials' own scale across the five control themes — not a generic rubric.
  • Every score is traceable to the client's own configuration evidence.
  • Gaps ranked by severity, ready to close before self-assessment or Cyber Essentials Plus.
  • A board-ready slide deck and a detailed report generated automatically.
  • Re-runnable to confirm readiness ahead of annual certification.

When to use it​

  • Before a Cyber Essentials self-assessment or Cyber Essentials Plus assessment.
  • When a UK client needs the certification to qualify for contracts or tenders.
  • To confirm baseline technical controls are configured correctly.
  • To re-baseline ahead of annual recertification.

What it assesses​

Celeredge checks readiness against the five Cyber Essentials control themes from the client's own configuration evidence, ahead of self-assessment or Cyber Essentials Plus. It covers:

  • Firewalls
  • Secure configuration
  • Security update management
  • User access control
  • Malware protection

Expected output​

Celeredge produces per-theme maturity scores on the Cyber Essentials scale. Each answer carries a confidence signal and citations back to the client's evidence, and gaps are ranked by severity. The run generates a board-ready slide deck and a detailed HTML report. See Maturity Scoring, Reports and Deck Studio.

How to use it in Celeredge​

  1. Collect the client's evidence — configuration and policy records — see Evidence Collection.
  2. In Diagnose, select Cyber Essentials (NCSC).
  3. Run the assessment and watch it stream — see Running Assessments.
  4. Review per-theme answers with their confidence and citations, then accept the ones you trust.
  5. Send gaps to Plan — see Gap Analysis.

FAQ​

What is Cyber Essentials?​

Run by the NCSC, Cyber Essentials is a UK government-backed certification scheme built around five fundamental technical control themes — firewalls, secure configuration, security update management, user access control and malware protection.

What does a Celeredge Cyber Essentials assessment deliver?​

An evidence-based readiness assessment scored on the scheme's own scale, with gaps ranked by severity and an auto-generated, board-ready slide deck and detailed report — every score traceable to the evidence behind it.

How does the assessment work?​

Clients upload their own evidence — policies, reports and data. An AI interviewer asks targeted follow-ups to fill anything missing, the platform scores against the framework, ranks the gaps, and generates the deliverables.

Celeredge runs an independent readiness and alignment review against this framework. It is not a certification audit and is not endorsed by the standard's owner. Framework and standard names are trademarks of their respective owners.