According to the 2024 Cyber Breaches Survey, half of businesses and around a third of charities in the UK report having experienced some form of cyber security breach or attack in the last 12 months. For larger businesses, this figure gets much higher with 70% of medium businesses and 74% of large businesses reporting they were attacked.
As the frequency and sophistication of cyber attacks increase, organisations of all sizes are being strongly encouraged to prepare for cyber incidents by creating and practising a cyber incident response plan.
The Cyber Incident Exercising (CIE) scheme was created by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to help organisations which already have cyber incident response plans in place find an assured provider to help them test and make improvements before a cyber attack occurs.
The NCSC’s CIE Scheme is aimed at helping a wide range of UK businesses, charities, public sector and government organisations who are looking to rehearse, evaluate and improve their cyber incident response plans. The scheme covers the provision of exercising relating to incidents that fall into category 3, 4 and 5 of the UK’s Cyber Attack categorisation system.
Trusted advice
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is the UK’s technical authority on cyber security. From supporting the most critical organisations in the UK to working with the wider public sector, industry, SMEs and individuals to build resilience against cyber attacks, the NCSC’s mission is to make the UK the safest place to live and work online.
IASME is a Delivery Partner operating the CIE scheme on behalf of the NCSC. This means that IASME administers the evaluation and onboarding process for your organisation against the NCSC CIE Technical Standard, as well as assuring quality through the ongoing audit and renewal process.
Become an NCSC Assured Service Provider
Be recognised as an assured expert and future proof your consultancy with an industry recognised title.
Becoming an Assured Service Provider for the Cyber Incident Exercising scheme allows you to display the NCSC Assured Service Provider badge as evidence that your team have the skills and experience to run table-top and live-play cyber exercises that are tailored to the unique characteristics and requirements of an organisation. This will give confidence to your customers and become a market differentiator.
As a valued member of the Cyber Incident Exercise network, both NCSC and IASME will work hard to grow the market for your services.
What are the benefits of becoming an NCSC Assured Service Provider?
Your company will be able to demonstrate to clients and partners that you have the experience and capability to meet the NCSC’s strict criteria for Cyber Incident Exercising providers.
You will have use of the NCSC Assured Service Provider branding for your website, emails, and promotional materials to demonstrate your capabilities. You will also receive a digital badge carrying the same branding that can be used by clients to verify your continued membership of the scheme.
Your company will be promoted as an Assured Service Provider via the NCSC website.
You will also be part of IASME’s community of cyber security organisations, giving you access to member events, webinars, help and support from IASME’s award-winning team of staff.
View the requirements for an NCSC Assured Service Provider here
For more information on how to become an Assured Service Provider for Cyber Incident Exercising services, click here.
When you are ready to start the process to become an Assured Service Provider, please contact our customer services team [email protected]. If you have any questions, please give us a call on 0330 088 2752.