In this article, you will learn how to avoid the most common reason that Cyber Essentials applications are rejected.

When working towards Cyber Essentials certification you can’t be sure that your questionnaire answers are good enough.

Some questions require more effort than others. Knowing which ones allows an applicant to make better use of their time.

And through my experience with our clients I have learned that there is one area where applications regularly come up short.

Cyber Essentials is all about protecting your system from the most widespread attacks on the Internet.

1. Most common attacks rely on you clicking on a malicious link or visiting a malicious website. This allows an attacker to install malware on your computer.
2. The attacker will have the same rights to make changes to your system as you. So, if you can do anything you like, so can the attacker.
3. 97% of all common attacks could be prevented by limiting your system access and thereby the rights of your attacker.

Removing administrative rights to your devices is the single most effective way of preventing a cyber-attack.

And it is also the most likely area where Cyber Essentials applicants fail to answer the questionnaire effectively.

You must limit administrator access to keep your system safe. And to pass Cyber Essentials you must be able to demonstrate that you have done this.

Here are some ideas:

• Remove local administrator access to all machines
• Remove email and Internet browser software from servers
• Remove mailboxes for administrator accounts from your email server
• Implement very tight policies on your Internet filtering software for administrator accounts.

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