Cyber Security for Recruitment Agencies

Why recruitment agencies get certified

Recruitment is a data business. You hold CVs, ID and right-to-work documents, home addresses, and bank details for payroll — and you move money between clients, candidates and umbrella companies. That makes you both a target and a subject of client scrutiny.

• PSL and client questionnaires. Preferred-supplier lists and client onboarding increasingly require Cyber Essentials before they'll share vacancies or candidate data. No certificate can mean losing your place on the list.
• Candidate data is a goldmine. A single mailbox breach exposes ID documents and salary details for thousands of candidates — a reportable data breach and a reputational hit.
• Payroll and mandate fraud. Agencies are a favourite target for invoice redirection and payroll diversion. The controls Cyber Essentials checks — MFA, access control, secure configuration — are exactly the ones attackers exploit.
• The umbrella and subcontractor chain. Money and data flow through umbrellas and sub-agencies; clients increasingly want assurance across that chain, and certification is the recognised proof.

Certification, tested where it matters

For most agencies, Cyber Essentials is the right first step — it answers the PSL question and covers the basics. Where a client audits you harder, or you run a candidate portal or job board, a penetration test of that application is the sensible next layer. We tell you which you actually need rather than selling you both.

How we work with you

You're guided by a certified IASME assessor who tells you plainly what to change — usually MFA everywhere, tidy access control when consultants leave, and a clean mailbox setup — then we get you through the assessment. Turnaround is days rather than weeks when your controls are already in order.

Common questions