Enhanced Cyber Essentials Certified

As a business we are committed to protecting ourselves and our clients from cyber-attacks and so we’ve successfully completed the latest IASME assessment to become Cyber Essentials certified.

What is Cyber Essentials?

Cyber Essentials is a baseline cyber security standard that covers IT security in five core areas:

Firewalls
Secure configuration
User access control
Malware protection
Security update management

In April 2026, the Cyber Essentials Requirements for IT Infrastructure v3.3 latest updates from IASME and the National Crime Security Centre mean that requirements have become more stringent, with the introduction of stricter enforcement, less ambiguity and greater emphasis on demonstrating operational security.

How Cyber Essentials has changed

The 2026 update introduces stricter criteria. Organisations must now prove that security controls are consistently implemented across cloud services, remote working, BYOD devices and modern SaaS platforms.

In practical terms, Cyber Essentials is no longer just about having the right policies written down. It is about showing that secure operational practices are genuinely embedded into day-to-day business activity.

This includes:

Structured operational processes and security discipline: With controlled user access, consistent patching, secure remote working, managed cloud security and defined accountability.
Better resistance to common attacks: These include credential theft, phishing, unpatched vulnerabilities, weak remote access, cloud account compromise
Security embedded into operational culture: Demonstrating secure. development practices, security ownership across teams, mature access management, regular vulnerability remediation, evidence-based governance.

The benefit to our clients

Although Cyber Essentials does not provide advanced threat detection capability nor is it a guarantee against cyber-attacks, for clients who come to 4FX for software development, app build and web design services, Cyber Essentials certification provides reassurance that we offer materially stronger protection against everyday cyber threats, built into our processes.

Chris Coomber, Co-founder and Director at 4FX commented: “We’re really pleased to have successfully achieved the enhanced Cyber Essentials accreditation, demonstrating our commitment to cyber security. It is more than a ‘tick box’ certification and more about being able to demonstrate operational resilience and best practice with our systems and processes. The updated standard demonstrates how we are taking practical, measurable steps to protect systems and data in an increasingly hostile threat landscape.”