Cyber Essentials Intelligent Self-Assessment Assistant (CEISAA)

The UK's National Cyber Strategy 2022 aims to achieve high levels of cyber resiliency in businesses and organisations by increasing the uptake and implementation of standards such as Cyber Essentials (CE). CE is promoted as an effective, low-cost solution offering a baseline level of cyber security. CE expects organisations to implement 5 controls (firewalls, secure configuration, user access control, malware protection, security update management) to achieve baseline security.

This project aims to develop Cyber Essentials Intelligent Self-Assessment Assistant (CEISAA), an automated assistant designed to capture and analyse data surrounding the 5 controls. CEISAA then provides intelligent guidance to resolve issues and achieve baseline security as follows.

• CEISAA aids non-IT SME owners by forgoing the burden of completing complicated CE questionnaires and therefore avoids costs associated with often expensive expert consultancy.

• CEISAA aids non-IT SME owners providing guidance using an intelligent assistant to fix any issues to achieve baseline security.

• Regular monitoring of the baseline security using CEISAA will verify baseline controls, reduce the pre-testing and preparation costs before applying for CE compliance.

CEISAA also can be used by home IT-estates and any SMEs worldwide who wish to conduct a CE self-assessment.