A1.16: Have you signed up to the NCSC Early Warning service?
Have you signed up to the NCSC’s free Early Warning service?
Source: IASME Cyber Essentials Danzell question set v16.3
A1.16 records whether you have signed up to the NCSC's free Early Warning service, which notifies registered organisations about potential cyber attacks or vulnerabilities affecting their networks. Yes and No are both acceptable and neither affects the result. Signing up is free for UK organisations and is a sensible step before you submit.
Is A1.16 an automatic fail?
No. A1.16 records information about your organisation and is not marked against a technical requirement, so no answer to it fails the assessment. Inaccurate or contradictory details may be returned by the assessor for correction.
- Answer type
- Yes/No a Yes/No question
- IASME guidance
- NCSC Early Warning Service
- Requirement enforced
- Section A1 collects the details that appear on the certificate and shape which later questions are shown.
- Outcome if non-compliant
- Not marked against a requirement; inaccurate details may be returned for correction
What does A1.16 ask?
A1.16 asks: “Have you signed up to the NCSC’s free Early Warning service?”
A1.16 asks whether you have signed up to the NCSC's free Early Warning service. The guidance is simply a link to the service.
Early Warning is an NCSC service that uses threat intelligence to tell registered organisations about potential attacks, compromised systems and vulnerable services on the IP addresses and domains they register. It is free. You can find it on the NCSC Early Warning service page.
Alerts about exposed or vulnerable services are directly relevant to the firewall control: they are the kind of issue Cyber Essentials Plus test case 1 looks for with an external scan.
How should you answer A1.16?
A1.16 has no single compliant answer. Answer it accurately for your organisation today; this is what each answer means.
- Answer Yes if your organisation has registered with Early Warning and added its public IP addresses or domains.
- Answer No if it has not; this does not affect the assessment.
- If you answer Yes, make sure alerts go to a monitored mailbox, not a person who has left.
What mistakes do applicants make with A1.16?
A common mistake with A1.16: assuming a No counts against you; it does not.
- Registering but never adding your IP addresses or domains, so no alerts can arrive.
- Sending alerts to an individual's inbox rather than a shared, monitored address.
- Ignoring alerts about exposed admin interfaces, which A4.9 to A4.11 cover.
How do you get A1.16 right?
Work through these steps before you enter A1.16 in the portal:
- If you have not signed up, register on the NCSC Early Warning service page and add your public IP addresses and domains.
- Send alerts to a monitored shared mailbox, and act on any alert about exposed services before a CE Plus external scan.
How do assessors check A1.16?
What evidence should you keep for A1.16?
The self-assessment does not ask you to upload evidence, but the assessor can ask for clarification, a director signs the attestation, and Cyber Essentials Plus tests the same controls. Keep this on file for A1.16:
- The Early Warning registration confirmation and the IP addresses and domains registered.
Where to go next
- NCSCGlossary
- CE Plus test 1: external scanCyber Essentials Plus
- How to get certifiedThe application, step by step
- What Cyber Essentials costsIASME fee bands and assessor prices
- All A1 questionsYour organisation
- Cyber Essentials checklistThe evidence to gather for every question
- Check your readinessScore your answers, auto-fails first
Other A1 questions
- A1.12A1.12Yes/NoHave you spoken to an assured NCSC Cyber Advisor to help with your application?Yes/No
- A1.13A1.13Yes/NoCan IASME and their expert partners contact you if you experience a cyber breach?Yes/No
- A1.14A1.14Multiple choiceWhere did you hear about Cyber Essentials?Multiple choice
- A1.15A1.15Yes/NoCan IASME contact you for research purposes?Yes/No
Frequently asked questions
A1.16 in the 2026 Danzell Cyber Essentials question set asks: "Have you signed up to the NCSC’s free Early Warning service?" It is a Yes/No question.
A1.16 records whether you have signed up to the NCSC's free Early Warning service, which notifies registered organisations about potential cyber attacks or vulnerabilities affecting their networks. Yes and No are both acceptable and neither affects the result. Signing up is free for UK organisations and is a sensible step before you submit.
No. A1.16 records information about your organisation and is not marked against a technical requirement, so no answer to it fails the assessment. Inaccurate or contradictory details may be returned by the assessor for correction.
Yes. It is a free NCSC service for UK organisations.
No. A1.16 only records whether you have signed up.
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.
- IASME Certification Body
- CREST accredited
- IASME fee included
- UK offices in Leeds, Newcastle, London and Edinburgh