Cyber Essentials is a UK government-backed standard for core cyber hygiene. It establishes five technical controls: firewalls, secure configuration, security update management, user access control, and malware protection. It strengthens resilience against common attacks, and extends across devices, networks, and cloud services. Finally, Cyber Essentials requires suppliers serving the UK public sector to meet mandatory expectations.
Organizations are increasingly complex: Employees and systems rely on complex networks, ever-increasing volumes of devices and a continuous churn of BYOD in the form of laptops, tablets, and mobile phones.
Cloud applications expand rapidly, policies drift, and misconfigurations remain unnoticed. Meanwhile, auditors demand evidence and logs, and leadership expects speed with certainty.
Environments change faster than controls can keep up. New SaaS apps appear, policies are updated, and devices generate risk signals in real time. Without clear visibility and consistent enforcement, teams lose control and respond too late. The requirement is clear: Maintain compliance while enforcing policy with immediate, reliable action.
Protect every device: Cloud firewall (CFW) and next generation secure web gateway (NG-SWG) enforce traffic policies, block unauthenticated access, and secure administration with single sign-on (SSO) and multi-factor authentication (MFA). SaaS security posture management (SSPM) and device intelligence ensure proper configuration and segmentation.
Secure configuration: SSPM monitors application security posture, while cloud ticket orchestrator (CTO) automates remediation. Next generation secure web gateway (NG-SWG), cloud access security broker (CASB), zero trust network access (ZTNA), and device intelligence strengthen authentication. Remote browser isolation (RBI) blocks auto-run threats, and advanced analytics maps risky applications.
Security update management: NG-SWG and CASB inventory applications, while cloud confidence index (CCI) scores risk. Device intelligence detects anomalies, and cloud security posture management (CSPM), SSPM, and CTO accelerate remediation.
User access control: CASB, NG-SWG, data loss prevention (DLP), and ZTNA enforce least-privilege access and MFA. Advanced analytics monitors accounts, while user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA), with user confidence index (UCI), flags anomalies. Cloud risk exchange (CRE) shares risk signals.
Malware protection: Advanced threat protection (ATP) and standard threat protection block threats using sandboxing and phishing detection. Remote browser isolation (RBI) secures browsing sessions, advanced DLP scans cloud storage, and SkopeAI adds deeper context to detect evasive attacks.
This guide provides the technical mapping for all five Cyber Essentials control requirements. Get a detailed breakdown of how Netskope products specifically satisfy each NCSC requirement for IT infrastructure. Download the full PDF now to prepare your organization for successful certification. Contact the Netskope team to schedule a demo and resolve your specific compliance questions.
