Cyber Essentials for online shops & e-commerce
An online shop processes customer payment and address data continuously, and any downtime or breach hits revenue and reputation immediately.
Why online shops & e-commerce are being asked for Cyber Essentials
Payment partners, B2B buyers and marketplace platforms increasingly ask sellers to demonstrate a security baseline like Cyber Essentials before onboarding.
What Cyber Essentials covers — the five controls
The same five controls apply to every organisation. Here's what each one means; tap through for the detail.
- Firewalls & internet gateways →A boundary between your devices and the internet, so only the services you actually need are reachable from outside.
- Secure configuration →Devices and software set up to reduce the ways in — default passwords changed, unused features and accounts removed.
- Security update management →Keeping software supported and patched, so known vulnerabilities are closed before attackers use them.
- User access control →Making sure accounts are only used by the right people, with MFA, unique logins and separate admin accounts.
- Malware protection →Protecting devices from malicious software, via anti-malware and/or only allowing approved applications to run.
See if your online shops & e-commerce business is ready
Answer the Cyber Essentials questions in plain English and get a per-control readiness verdict — free, no login needed, and we don't store your answers.
Start the free readiness check →More: Cyber Essentials explained · free readiness check
This is a free readiness / gap report to help you prepare — it is not a certification, and we are not an IASME Certification Body. To certify, you apply through an accredited Certification Body.