Castlefield Partners Ltd achieves Cyber Essentials Certification – September 2020

We are pleased to report that Castlefield has recently been certified compliant with the requirements of the well-recognised Cyber Essentials Scheme.

Cyber Essentials certification was developed for the UK Government by leading national technical security agencies and is recognised by the CBI, Federation of Small Businesses and several insurers as representing a basic level of technical defence against the most common forms of Cyber Attack.

The UK Government requires all suppliers bidding for contracts involving the handling of certain sensitive and personal information to be certified against the Cyber Essentials scheme.

Whilst this requirement does not currently apply to Castlefield or many other Cyber Essentials certified organisations, we are now registered as being Cyber Essentials secure at the National Cyber Security Centre and are able to publish the associated Certificate of Insurance on our website.

We hope this achievement will reassure our clients and business partners that we take Cyber Security risks and the security of all personal and corporate data very seriously, and that we meet a basic standard of technical security.

However, this is not the end of a journey but rather an early milestone on one which is likely to require continuous improvement.

Like many others, our business is heavily reliant on the operational and environmental advantages which Information Technology can bring. Fortunately, we were already proactively redeveloping our IT infrastructure before our response to Covid-19 further accelerated which meant we were able to immediately move the entire business to working from home for as long as necessary.

We are also accelerating our programme of digital communication to eliminate the use of printed documents with the added security risk they pose to personal data and the damage they cause to our precious environment.

Our company is majority owned by everyone who works in it and we aim to ensure that all our Co-Owners have the best possible tools and training we can afford to help us support you, our clients and business partners as efficiently and safely as possible through the changes resulting from the above.

Although certified, Castlefield’s Cyber Security will continue to rely heavily on the informed awareness and relentless vigilance of all our Co Owners who have a vested interest in the quality and sustainability of the services we provide.

Written by Jeremy Burden