Cyber Advisor
A Cyber Advisor is a person assured by the NCSC to advise organisations on how to implement the Cyber Essentials controls. They find gaps against the requirements, implement or advise on fixes and prepare an organisation for the question set. They do not mark assessments or issue certificates. A1.12 asks whether you have spoken to one.
- Term
- Cyber Advisor
- Category
- Scheme and certification
- Requirement area
- A. Introducing the technical controls
- Reviewed against
- Requirements v3.3
What does the term Cyber Advisor mean in Cyber Essentials?
A Cyber Advisor is a person assured by the NCSC to advise organisations on how to implement the Cyber Essentials controls.
How does Cyber Advisor apply to Cyber Essentials?
In plain terms
A Cyber Advisor is the coach, not the referee. They help you get the five controls in place on your own systems, then you take the assessment with a Certification Body, which marks it.
What the scheme says
The A1.12 guidance describes a Cyber Advisor as "a person assured by NCSC as a Cyber Essentials Cyber Advisor to provide advice on how to implement Cyber Essentials." The NCSC runs the Cyber Advisor scheme with IASME as its delivery partner. Each advisor must pass an independent assessment, the Certificate of Competence in Cyber Essentials Implementation, and work for an Assured Service Provider registered with IASME. That provider must itself hold a valid Cyber Essentials certificate.
In the question set, A1.12 asks whether you have spoken to an assured Cyber Advisor, and A1.14 lists "Cyber Advisor" among the ways applicants first heard of the scheme.
When is a Cyber Advisor useful?
- You have no in-house IT and are not sure which controls you already meet.
- You need hands-on help changing settings, such as switching on MFA or removing unsupported software, rather than a list of findings.
- You failed a previous attempt and want the fixes done properly before you resubmit.
Using one is optional. You can certify without an advisor, and working with one does not oblige you to certify.
How to check one
Ask for their assured status and look them up through IASME's Find a Cyber Advisor service. If the person helping you is not assured, the accurate answer to A1.12 is No.
See the organisation questions, gap analysis and get certified. Scheme details: IASME Cyber Advisor and NCSC information for service providers.
Related terms
- Certification BodyA Certification Body is an organisation licensed by IASME, the NCSC's Delivery Partner, to assess and certify applicants for Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus.
- Gap analysisA gap analysis is a review of your IT against the Cyber Essentials requirements before you apply, listing each gap and how to close it.
- Cyber EssentialsCyber Essentials is a UK government-backed certification that shows an organisation has five basic technical security controls in place to stop common internet attacks.
- Cyber Essentials certificateA Cyber Essentials certificate is the digital record, issued through a Certification Body, that an organisation has passed Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus.
- Cyber Essentials PlusCyber Essentials Plus is the higher level of Cyber Essentials, where an assessor independently tests your systems instead of relying only on your written answers.
- Cyber Essentials Readiness ToolThe Cyber Essentials Readiness Tool is a free online questionnaire from the NCSC, run with IASME, that asks about your IT and gives a personalised action plan for meeting Cyber Essentials.
Frequently asked questions
A Cyber Advisor is a person assured by the NCSC to advise organisations on how to implement the Cyber Essentials controls.
In the 2026 Danzell question set, Cyber Advisor comes up at A1.12, A1.14. Read those questions against the definition above so your answers use the term the way the assessor will.
Cyber Advisor relates to A. Introducing the technical controls in the NCSC's Cyber Essentials: Requirements for IT Infrastructure v3.3. Read that section for the control your answers must show.
Would you pass the 2026 question set?
Answer 24 yes or no questions, built by the assessors who mark Cyber Essentials, and get a readiness score in about five minutes, with any auto-fail questions you miss flagged first in your results.