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Trust is fundamental to good research. That includes how information is protected as well as how research is designed and conducted.
Mackman Research, as part of Mackman Group, is now covered by Cyber Essentials Plus certification, providing additional independent assurance around important technical cyber security controls supporting our work.
The certification follows the successful renewal of Mackman Group’s Cyber Essentials certification and an additional independent technical assessment designed to verify that the required controls are operating effectively in practice.
For a research consultancy, that additional scrutiny is particularly relevant.
Our clients and research participants trust us to treat information responsibly. Protecting that trust requires appropriate research practices, clear governance and effective technical safeguards.
Information security and responsible research
Research frequently involves information entrusted to us by clients, participants, employees, customers and other stakeholders.
Depending on the project, that can include survey responses, interview and focus group material, organisational information and commercially sensitive client data.
Our responsibilities therefore extend beyond designing robust methodologies and producing reliable findings.
We also need appropriate safeguards around the systems and technology supporting that work.
Cyber Essentials Plus provides independent technical verification of an important part of those safeguards.
What Is Cyber Essentials Plus?
Cyber Essentials is a UK Government backed certification scheme designed to help organisations protect themselves against common cyber threats.
It focuses on five areas of technical protection: firewalls, secure configuration, security updates, user access control and malware protection.
Cyber Essentials Plus builds on those requirements through independent technical testing.
This means that rather than simply demonstrating that the required controls are in place, those controls are independently tested to verify that they are operating effectively in practice.
Following the renewal of Mackman Group’s Cyber Essentials certification, we chose to undertake this additional level of assessment.
Part of responsible research practice
Cyber security is only one element of responsible information management.
At Mackman Research, it sits alongside our professional, ethical and data protection responsibilities and our commitment to conducting research with appropriate care and rigour.
As an MRS Company Partner, our research is conducted within established professional standards. Cyber Essentials Plus adds another independently assessed layer to the safeguards supporting that work.
It also sits within a broader framework across Mackman Group encompassing policies, processes, responsibilities, controls and governance around the responsible management of information, technology and risk.
Together, these different elements help us create appropriate guardrails around the way information is accessed, used and protected.
This reflects one of the principles guiding Mackman Group more broadly: evidence before assumption.
What does this mean for our research clients?
For organisations commissioning research from Mackman Research, Cyber Essentials Plus provides:
Independent technical testing of key cyber security controls
Additional assurance around systems supporting our research work
Evidence that recognised technical safeguards have been implemented and tested
Greater confidence in the infrastructure supporting the responsible handling of information
Further evidence of our investment in professional, ethical and responsible research practice
Cyber Essentials Plus should not be interpreted as eliminating cyber risk, nor does it replace our wider research, privacy and data protection responsibilities.
Instead, it provides independent evidence that recognised technical safeguards have been implemented and tested.
For us, that distinction matters.
Trust supported by evidence
Good research depends on trust.
Participants need confidence in the research process. Clients need confidence in the quality and independence of the evidence produced. Both should also be able to expect appropriate care around the information entrusted to us.
That is why we regard cyber security as part of a much broader responsibility rather than simply an IT consideration.
Cyber Essentials Plus independently tests an important technical part of the safeguards supporting our work.
It is another way in which we can move beyond saying that standards matter to us and provide evidence of the practices supporting them.
