London, 12 June 2026 - aligned.tax, the Making Tax Digital bridging software that lets sole traders, landlords, and accountants file to HMRC straight from a spreadsheet, has been awarded Cyber Essentials certification, the UK government-backed security standard run by the IASME Consortium.
I’ll be honest with you. When we started Cyber Essentials, I assumed it would be a form-filling exercise we’d knock out in an afternoon. It turned out to be one of the most useful things we’ve done as a business, and a good deal more involved than I expected.
Cyber Essentials makes you stop and look hard at the way you actually operate. It pushes you to put the controls, procedures, and defences in place so you’re not leaving yourself, or your customers, exposed. For a business that handles people’s financial data, that matters enormously.
What it actually involves
None of it is exotic. The scheme covers the foundations that quietly keep a business safe:
- Two-factor authentication on every account, not just the important ones
- Customer data kept safe and encrypted at rest
- Regular, tested backups so nothing is ever lost
- Up-to-date operating systems, patched promptly when fixes are released
- Proper, current antivirus and malware protection
- Least-privilege access, so people can only reach the data they genuinely need
Most of these were things we were already doing. What Cyber Essentials did was force us to bring them together, write them down as a process, and set reminders so nothing slips through the cracks.
“It doesn’t have to be a long, drawn-out exercise, but you do have to sit down and think it through. What accounts are we using? How do we log into them? Is two-factor switched on everywhere? In this day and age you simply can’t rely on a password alone, and going through this properly made us prove it to ourselves.”
Why every small business should do it
I’d genuinely encourage every small business owner to go through Cyber Essentials, even if you reckon you’ve already got the basics covered. The value isn’t only the certificate at the end. It’s the discipline of writing down how you work, spotting the gaps, and turning good intentions into a documented, repeatable process. You come out of it knowing exactly where you stand.
The people who helped
We didn’t do it alone. Our assessment was carried out by Red Circle, the certifying partner appointed to us through IASME, the body that runs Cyber Essentials on behalf of the National Cyber Security Centre. They were great to work with, and made a thorough process feel manageable from start to finish.
What’s next
This is the floor, not the ceiling. We’re already planning to build on it, working towards the higher levels of assurance that IASME offers and staying current as the standards evolve. Security is something you keep doing, not something you finish.
“We live in an age where it’s becoming easier and easier for people to find and exploit platforms. The businesses people will trust with their data are the ones that treat security as a permanent commitment, not a box to tick. That’s the bar we’re holding ourselves to.”
You can verify our Cyber Essentials certificate on the IASME registry at any time.
About aligned.tax
aligned.tax is bridging software for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. Keep the spreadsheet you already use, map it to HMRC’s submission categories with Smart Map, and file directly to HMRC’s MTD API in minutes. The core upload-and-submit workflow is free, with no credit card required. Start filing now or try the demo.