The certification means that TR is now qualified to bid for Government and other sensitive contracts, given its high standard of base controls in cybersecurity.
In order for any supplier or business to be able to bid for Government contracts which involve handling sensitive and personal information they now require Cyber Essentials certification. This also applies to contracts involving the provision of certain technical products and services, which may be susceptible to cybersecurity risks.
According to the Cyber Essentials website, the scheme is "designed to help UK organisations improve their defences and demonstrate publically their commitment to cybersecurity". Passing the audit requires businesses to show that they conform to a set of ‘baseline technical controls’ and measures to prevent and manage issues such as:
- Hacking
- Phishing
- Password guessing
“The protection of confidential data and information is something we take extremely seriously at TR”, comments John Paton, Global Head of IT Security at TR Fastenings’ parent business Trifast plc.
“Our customers quite rightly want to work with partners that can be trusted to access and handle confidential or sensitive information and that have the measures in place to keep this data safe and secure. Having this certification demonstrates not only our credibility in that respect, but also our dedication to quality and integrity when it comes to customer information.”
Although it was not necessary in order to pass the audit, TR appointed an independent auditing body to assess its cybersecurity standards and conduct extra tests, and TR is now planning to undertake further tests to qualify for the next level of certification, Cyber Essentials Plus. It hopes to achieve this by 2020.
