Cyber Essentials · Leeds
Cyber Essentials
certification
for Leeds businesses.
The UK government-backed scheme that protects your business from 80% of the most common cyber attacks — delivered end-to-end by Aurora Tech Support's Leeds-based engineers. Fixed fee, no surprises, ready in 1–2 weeks.
The scheme, in plain English
What is Cyber Essentials, and why does it matter?
Cyber Essentials is the UK Government's baseline cyber-security certification, developed by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and administered by IASME. It proves to your customers, insurers and supply chain that you've put five practical technical controls in place to defend against the most common attacks on the internet.
For Leeds businesses bidding on public-sector work — from Leeds City Council frameworks to NHS Yorkshire and central government tenders — Cyber Essentials is no longer a nice-to-have. It's a gate. We get you through it without the jargon, the paperwork pain or the surprise bills.
Cyber Essentials
Self-assessed questionnaire, verified by IASME. Covers the five controls. Renewed annually.
Cyber Essentials Plus
Everything in Cyber Essentials, plus a hands-on technical audit by a certified assessor. Mandatory for many MOD & NHS contracts.
The five technical controls
Five practical controls. One certification.
Cyber Essentials is built around five technical control areas defined by the NCSC. Get them right and you block the overwhelming majority of opportunistic attacks. We help you implement each one across your devices, network and cloud services.
Boundary firewalls
Every device that connects to the internet — from your office router to remote workers' laptops — needs a properly configured firewall blocking unauthorised traffic.
Secure configuration
Remove the default passwords, unused accounts and unnecessary software that ship with most devices. Every box you deploy should be locked down to what the user actually needs.
User access control
Admin rights only where they're genuinely needed, multi-factor authentication on every cloud service, and a process for revoking access the day someone leaves.
Malware protection
Up-to-date endpoint protection on every device — Windows, macOS and mobile — with application allow-listing where the standard tier won't reach.
Security update management
All operating systems, browsers and business applications patched within 14 days of a critical or high-severity update being released — automated and verified.
Ongoing assurance
We don't just hand you a certificate. Our managed Cyber Essentials package keeps the controls in place between annual audits — so renewal is never a panic.
Our Leeds-based process
From kickoff call to certificate — four clear steps.
We've taken hundreds of Yorkshire businesses through Cyber Essentials. The path is well-trodden, the timelines are predictable, and you'll know exactly what's happening at every stage.
Discovery & gap analysis
A 90-minute scoping call followed by an audit of your devices, accounts and cloud services. You get a plain-English gap report against each of the five controls.
Remediation
We fix what needs fixing — MFA rollouts, endpoint protection, patch schedules, admin accounts. You stay in the loop; we do the heavy lifting on-site or remote.
Assessment submission
We complete the IASME assessment with you, submit it, and act as your point of contact with the certifying body through any clarification questions.
Certification & maintenance
You receive your Cyber Essentials certificate and badge for use on your website and tender responses. We monitor the controls year-round so renewal is painless.
Built for Leeds & West Yorkshire
A Leeds team that knows the local supply chain.
We've been supporting Leeds businesses since 2003 — from financial-services firms around Wellington Place and the legal sector in Park Square, to manufacturers in the South Bank and digital agencies along Wellington Street. We understand the local tendering landscape and the security demands placed on Yorkshire suppliers.
When you book Cyber Essentials with Aurora, you're working with engineers who are an hour's drive away, not a faceless call centre. We come on-site when it helps. We answer the phone when you call.
- Leeds City Council framework suppliers
- NHS Yorkshire & Humber tenders
- MOD & defence sub-contractors
- Legal & accountancy in LS1 / LS2
- Financial services in Wellington Place
- Manufacturing & logistics, South Bank
Why it matters
Cyber Essentials isn't theory. It's the certification that closes the door on the attacks Leeds businesses actually face.
Common attacks blocked
NCSC estimate of opportunistic attacks defended by the five controls.
Avg. UK SME breach cost
Median direct cost of a successful breach for businesses under 50 staff.
Of UK firms attacked yearly
Half of all UK businesses report a cyber incident in any given 12 months.
Weeks to certified
Typical Aurora delivery timeline from kickoff to certificate in hand.
Fixed-fee packages
No hourly billing. No surprise add-ons.
One price covers the gap analysis, the remediation work, the assessment fee, and the submission. We tell you up-front what it costs and how long it takes.
Cyber Essentials
For SMEs that need the standard certification
£1,000+VAT
From — depends on device count
- Scoping & gap analysis
- Remediation guidance
- IASME assessment fee included
- Submission handled by Aurora
- Certificate & badge artwork
Cyber Essentials Plus
Required for many MOD & NHS contracts
£1,750+VAT
From — depends on device count
- Everything in Cyber Essentials
- Hands-on technical audit on-site
- Sample of devices vulnerability-scanned
- Certified assessor sign-off
- 30-day remediation support window
Managed Cyber Essentials
Certification & ongoing assurance as a monthly service
£199/month
From — annual renewal included
- CE or CE Plus certification & renewal
- Continuous control monitoring
- Patch & MFA compliance reporting
- Quarterly review with your account lead
- Bundles with managed IT support
Aurora Tech Support made Cyber Essentials Plus feel like an afterthought, not a project. They scoped the whole job in a morning, fixed the gaps inside a fortnight, and we passed first time. We won two public-sector tenders on the back of it.
Common questions
Cyber Essentials, answered.
Straight answers to the questions Leeds businesses ask us most often before getting started. Don't see yours? Drop us a line.
How much does Cyber Essentials cost in Leeds?
The IASME assessment fee alone starts at £320 for businesses with fewer than 10 staff. That's the minimum cost if you do the entire process yourself.
Aurora Tech Support's fixed-fee Cyber Essentials package — which includes the assessment plus gap analysis, remediation and submission — starts at £1,000 + VAT. Cyber Essentials Plus, which adds an on-site technical audit, starts at £1,750 + VAT depending on the size of your estate.
How long does Cyber Essentials certification take?
Most Leeds clients complete Cyber Essentials in 4–6 weeks. Cyber Essentials Plus typically takes 6–10 weeks because it includes a hands-on technical audit and remediation cycle.
If your estate is already well-maintained — modern Windows or macOS, Microsoft 365, MFA on email, current patching — we can move significantly faster. We'll tell you on the first call.
What is the difference between Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus?
Cyber Essentials is a self-assessed questionnaire verified by IASME. You demonstrate that the five controls are in place; the certifying body reviews and signs off.
Cyber Essentials Plus requires the same controls but adds an independent hands-on technical audit of a sample of your devices, performed by a certified assessor. Plus is required for many MOD, NHS and central government contracts and carries higher weight in tender responses.
Do I need Cyber Essentials to work with public sector clients in Yorkshire?
Yes — Cyber Essentials has been mandatory for central government contracts handling personal data since 2014. Many Leeds City Council, NHS Yorkshire, and West Yorkshire Combined Authority tenders now list it as a minimum requirement.
Cyber Essentials Plus is increasingly required for higher-risk contracts — particularly anything touching healthcare data, defence, or critical national infrastructure.
Does Cyber Essentials cover Microsoft 365 and remote workers?
Yes. The scheme covers all devices that access organisational data — including home-working laptops, BYOD phones with corporate email, and cloud services such as Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Getting the scope right is one of the most common pitfalls. We help you draw the boundary correctly so you don't over-certify (expensive) or under-certify (you fail).
Is Cyber Essentials an annual certification?
Yes — both Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus must be renewed every 12 months. The controls have to remain in place; you can't certify once and forget about it.
Aurora's managed Cyber Essentials package includes continuous monitoring of all five controls so your environment stays compliant between renewals, not just at audit time. Renewal becomes a formality.
We already have an IT provider — can you just handle the certification?
Absolutely. We work alongside your existing IT team or provider regularly. We'll handle the scoping, the gap analysis, the IASME submission and assessor liaison, and brief your team on what needs to change. You don't need to switch providers to get certified with Aurora.
