UK-based · penetration testing & red team operations
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Forefront IT Security ServicesYour first step into taking security seriously, conducted by a Cyber Essentials Plus Lead Assessor who is also a hands-on penetration tester. Cyber Essentials assures your baseline, CE+ proves it hands-on, and we get you assessment-ready and keep you certified year after year.
Cyber Essentials is your first step out of hoping you are secure and into knowing it. Your assessment is run by a Cyber Essentials Plus Lead Assessor who is also a hands-on penetration tester, so you build a genuine security foundation and walk into the assessment ready to pass, not just tick a box.
Cyber Essentials is the first stepping stone. Whether you need it for a contract or you have simply decided, in an age where AI is writing the attacks, to stop hiding your head in the sand, it starts you on a path that keeps going.
01
Cyber Essentials
02
Cyber Essentials Plus
03
Penetration Testing
04
Continuous Validation
01. Cyber Essentials
Assure your baseline, the five controls that stop the most common internet-borne attacks.
02. Cyber Essentials Plus
The independent, hands-on technical confirmation that those controls actually hold.
03. Penetration Testing
Go beyond the baseline, prove what a real attacker could reach and chain together.
04. Continuous Validation
Keep it proven, continuous exposure management through AETOS as you grow.
Certification is the baseline, not the finish line. Here is why the organisations that take security seriously keep climbing.
Reputation
One breach in the headlines undoes years of trust. Demonstrable security protects the brand you have built.
Insurance
Cyber-insurers increasingly demand evidence of real controls, and pay out faster when you can prove them.
Customer Requirements
Enterprise and public-sector customers now make security a condition of doing business, not a nice-to-have.
Data Protection
The customer and staff data you hold carries real legal and financial weight under GDPR when it is lost.
Ransomware
The single biggest threat to mid-market organisations, and the one a baseline alone will not stop.
Cyber Essentials is the UK government-backed, IASME-administered scheme that demonstrates you have the fundamental technical controls in place to defend against the most common internet-borne attacks. It is increasingly a hard requirement, for many central-government contracts, for public-sector tenders, and as a baseline that customers and insurers now expect across the supply chain.
The scheme is built on five technical controls: boundary firewalls and internet gateways, secure configuration, user access control, malware protection, and security update (patch) management. Cyber Essentials is a verified self-assessment signed off by a company director; Cyber Essentials Plus adds an independent, hands-on technical audit in which an assessor verifies those controls on a sample of your internet-facing systems, servers, desktops and end-user devices.
We guide you through both, closing the gap between "we think we comply" and the evidence an assessor needs to see. Your engagement is led by a Cyber Essentials Plus Lead Assessor who is also a practising penetration tester, so you are not box-ticking with a form-filler: we run a pre-assessment gap analysis, help remediate whatever falls short, and get you assessment-ready, then keep you certified at each annual renewal as your estate and the scheme's requirements change.
Guided completion of the IASME self-assessment questionnaire, with readiness review and director sign-off support so your declaration is accurate, defensible and right first time.
Preparation for and support through the independent CE+ technical audit, internal and external vulnerability scanning and the assessor's hands-on verification of your controls on sampled devices.
A practical review of your firewalls, configuration, access control, malware protection and patching against the scheme's requirements to find and fix gaps before the clock and the assessor start.
Hands-on, prioritised help closing whatever the gap analysis surfaces, from MFA and account hygiene to patch SLAs and unsupported software, so you reach the bar rather than just learning where it is.
Help defining a sensible, compliant assessment boundary, the single most common cause of a failed or unexpectedly expensive assessment, including how BYOD, cloud services and home working are handled.
Both Cyber Essentials and CE+ must be renewed every twelve months. We keep you on top of changing scheme requirements so recertification is a formality, not an annual scramble.
Your assessment is run by a Cyber Essentials Plus Lead Assessor who is also a hands-on penetration tester, here to help you build a genuine security foundation, not just hand you a certificate.
Every engagement follows a structured, phased process, so you know exactly what happens, when, and what you receive at each stage.
We define the assessment boundary precisely, which devices, users, cloud services and networks are in scope, because a poorly drawn scope is the most frequent cause of a failed or inflated assessment.
A consultant reviews your current state against the five controls and the latest scheme requirements, producing a clear, prioritised list of exactly what needs to change to pass.
We help you close the gaps in priority order, firewall and configuration hardening, access control and MFA, malware protection and patch management, and confirm each is genuinely in place.
Before the formal assessment we sanity-check evidence and, for CE+, run trial vulnerability scans so there are no surprises when the assessor arrives.
We support you through the self-assessment submission or the CE+ technical audit; your certificate and IASME listing are issued by the licensed IASME Certification Body on a pass.
We track your renewal date and any scheme changes, and run a lighter-touch refresh each year so staying certified is straightforward and predictable.
We define the assessment boundary precisely, which devices, users, cloud services and networks are in scope, because a poorly drawn scope is the most frequent cause of a failed or inflated assessment.
A consultant reviews your current state against the five controls and the latest scheme requirements, producing a clear, prioritised list of exactly what needs to change to pass.
We help you close the gaps in priority order, firewall and configuration hardening, access control and MFA, malware protection and patch management, and confirm each is genuinely in place.
Before the formal assessment we sanity-check evidence and, for CE+, run trial vulnerability scans so there are no surprises when the assessor arrives.
We support you through the self-assessment submission or the CE+ technical audit; your certificate and IASME listing are issued by the licensed IASME Certification Body on a pass.
We track your renewal date and any scheme changes, and run a lighter-touch refresh each year so staying certified is straightforward and predictable.
Every engagement is delivered to be acted on, by your board and your engineers alike.
A clear readiness assessment and gap report against all five technical controls
A defined, defensible certification scope that avoids common assessment pitfalls
Hands-on, prioritised support to remediate any gaps before assessment
A guided path to a first-time pass, with the evidence an assessor expects
Your Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus certificate and IASME listing on success
Ongoing reminders and support to keep you certified at each annual renewal
Cyber Essentials is a verified self-assessment: you complete the IASME questionnaire and a director signs it off. Cyber Essentials Plus covers the same five controls but adds an independent technical audit, internal and external vulnerability scans plus an assessor's hands-on verification on a sample of your devices. CE+ provides far stronger assurance and is frequently the level required by larger contracts.
Have a question that isn't covered here? We're happy to talk it through.
Tell us about your environment, and we'll recommend the right approach and give you a clear quote.
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