Cyber Essentials+ secured again for GMI

GMI’s Technology Department is proud to announce that the business has secured Cyber Essentials+ for the second consecutive year.

Over 100,000 Cyber Essentials+ certificates have bene handed out to businesses across the UK and GMI are included in that number, joining a range of organisations including large and small businesses, government departments, trade bodies and charities.

As part of GMI’s strategy, we are committed to increasing the uptake of standards such as Cyber Essentials+. GMI hasn’t just accepted the minimum, we have pushed further and harder to secure a more robust accreditation.

To date, Cyber Essentials+ has had a profound impact in driving improved cyber security across our business – protecting us from simple phishing attacks and even hacks from Russia.

Adam Wozniak, IT Lead for GMI, has led the initiative and he says it’s becoming increasingly more important every year – especially as three of our competitors have followed us through the process.

“Cyber Essentials is not a silver bullet and does not guarantee organisations won’t fall victim to a cyber attack, but it does provide protection and resilience for GMI. We are seeing an increasing number of organisations use Cyber Essentials as a tool to assure themselves that third parties, including suppliers, have implemented minimum cyber security controls. GMI is ahead of that curve and our people go about their work, knowing we have that protection. It’s more important each year and prevalent in construction.”

As GMI moves to a more framework orientated approach to winning business, on top of what we already do, Cyber Essentials is having a role to play in companies winning ‘blue light’ work – namely with the NHS.

The NHS recently introduced a requirement for IT suppliers to have Cyber Essentials, thus raising the bar for those organisations that wish to do business with the NHS.

Thomas West, Technology Director, said: “We’re proud to achieve this certification. That’s thanks to Adam and the team, including the wider GMI, that have embraced Cyber Essentials.

 We are also working to improve our cyber resilience legislation and I’d encourage all staff to complete the necessary training on this, as they get released from our HR team.”