Current State Baseline
Technical review of patching, MFA, backups, macros, and admin privileges across cloud and on-prem assets.
Essential Eight
Essential Eight Maturity Uplift
Plan, execute, and evidence the ASD Essential Eight so you can hit maturity targets demanded by customers and regulators.
Our team connects security controls to business context—mapping where you are today, the risks your customers care about, and the investments that will move the maturity needle fastest.
ASD Essential Eight
What is the Essential Eight?
The ASD Essential Eight is Australia’s baseline for defending against ransomware, data theft, and supply chain attacks. It focuses on patching, application control, macros, admin privileges, MFA, backups, and user hardening so you can prove uplift without building a full ISMS.
- Meet Australian government and enterprise tender requirements faster.
- Translate technical uplift into maturity scores and board-ready talking points.
- Give MSP partners and internal teams a transparent backlog tied to ASD guidance.
Prioritised Roadmap
Quarterly target state with capital and operational effort estimates.
Evidence & Reporting
Independent maturity assessments and reporting packs for boards, customers, and regulators.
ASD Essential Eight at a glance
Eight practical strategies to stop ransomware, reduce data theft, and give stakeholders measurable assurance.
01
Application control
Only allow approved software so malicious code cannot execute.
02
Patch applications
Keep browsers, plugins, and productivity tools patched within set SLAs.
03
Configure macros
Block risky macros and enforce trust settings for documents.
04
User application hardening
Disable legacy features like Flash and enforce modern security settings.
05
Restrict admin privileges
Limit admin rights and use just-in-time access for sensitive tasks.
06
Patch operating systems
Keep OS builds current and decommission unsupported platforms.
07
Multi-factor authentication
Enforce MFA everywhere—VPNs, privileged accounts, and SaaS apps.
08
Regular backups
Secure, tested backups ensure you can recover quickly after incidents.
What you will achieve
- Independent maturity assessment against all eight ASD strategies.
- Prioritised remediation backlog mapped to accountable owners and realistic timelines.
- Coaching and templates so MSPs and internal teams can implement controls with confidence.
- Reassessments and narratives that help you show progress to customers, execs, and ASD reviewers.
Aligned Stakeholders
We coordinate CIOs, managed service partners, and security leaders to ensure remediation tasks are owned and resourced. Our playbooks translate ASD guidance into engineering tickets so progress is measurable.
- Baseline workshops for each of the eight strategies.
- Shared backlog for MSPs, internal teams, and automation owners.
- Regular check-ins with exec-ready summaries.
Measured Outcomes
We convert Essential Eight assessments into clear storyboards: what changed, why it matters, and what effort remains. Stakeholders get plain-language summaries and annotated evidence they can reuse for approvals, audits, and customer updates.
- Maturity scoring snapshots by system, supplier, or business unit.
- Exec and customer briefings that explain progress without spinning up new decks.
- Action trackers that tie remediation effort to risk reduction and audit asks.
Operational Assurance
Once the roadmap is set, we stay in the loop with cadence reviews, evidence spot-checks, and advisory calls so Essential Eight controls keep improving between formal assessments.
- Working sessions to review SOPs, policy addendums, and responder playbooks.
- Evidence walkthroughs that show teams exactly what assessors expect to see.
- Quarterly tune-ups plus readiness rehearsals ahead of customer or regulator checkpoints.
Essential Eight FAQs
Which Essential Eight maturity level do you target?
We start by clarifying the maturity level customers, regulators, or contracts expect (often Level 2 or 3). From there we build a roadmap that sequences controls so you can reach that target without burning the team out.
Do you supply tooling or work with what we have?
We work with the platforms you already own—collaboration suites, identity providers, automation, and ticketing tools—and only recommend new tooling when there is a clear gap.
Can you brief executives or boards on Essential Eight progress?
Yes. Every checkpoint includes exec-ready talking points and metrics so leaders can describe posture, risks, and next steps with confidence.
Ready to move?
Share your current challenges and we’ll outline an engagement that keeps the workstream lean but effective.
Let’s grab a coffee
Let’s grab a coffee and chat!
Got 30 minutes? Let’s talk about your cybersecurity and compliance goals in a relaxed, no-pressure coffee catch-up. Whether you need advice or just want to brainstorm ideas, we’re here to help.
Book a free chat