A bakery with the doors open
A small bakery has a website. The door at the front is locked. But the side door is open, a spare key is under the mat, and a sign lists everything in the stockroom.
The first two Cyber Essentials controls fix this kind of mistake: close the doors you do not need, and tidy the settings.
Key words
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Cyber Essentials | a UK scheme from the NCSC with five basic controls for any organisation |
| NCSC | the National Cyber Security Centre, the UK government's cyber security body |
| Boundary firewall | a firewall at the edge of a network that filters the traffic going in and out |
| Internet gateway | the device that connects an organisation to the internet |
| Default deny | refuse everything that no rule allows |
| Secure configuration | settings chosen so a device offers only what is needed |
| Hardening | making a system harder to attack by removing and tightening things |
| Malware | software made to harm a computer or its owner |
| Network | computers joined together so they can share data |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
By the end of this lesson
Note
I can say how a boundary firewall and a secure configuration lower the risk of attack.
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3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
Five controls, one scheme
The NCSC backs Cyber Essentials. It names five controls. They help stop most simple attacks.
The five are boundary firewalls, secure configuration, malware protection, security update management and access control. This lesson covers the first two. The next lesson covers the other three.
A boundary firewall filters traffic at the edge
A boundary firewall sits at the edge of a network, often at the internet gateway. It looks at traffic and uses rules to allow or block it.
The safe way to build rules is default deny. Block everything, then allow only what the business needs, such as web traffic on port 443.
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3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.