The Essential Eight cybersecurity strategies, also known as the “essential eight Australia”, are Australia’s defense blueprint against cyber threats. Crafted by the Australian Signals Directorate, these strategies safeguard organizations by addressing various aspects of cyber protection. In this guide, we decode the essential eight Australia, detailing how they work and how you can implement them for a more secure digital environment.
Key Takeaways
- The Essential Eight is an Australian cybersecurity strategy consisting of eight mitigation strategies aimed at bolstering an organization’s cyber defenses, applicable to both government and private sectors.
- Key components of the Essential Eight include application whitelisting, patching applications, limiting administrative privileges, implementing multi-factor authentication, and daily backups, all of which contribute to a robust cyber resilience framework.
- It is crucial for organizations to strive for continuous improvement in their cybersecurity posture by utilizing the Essential Eight Maturity Model, engaging IRAP assessors for security validation, and collaborating with industry representatives for compliance with best practices.
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Understanding the Essential Eight

The Essential Eight is a cybersecurity blueprint composed of eight risk mitigation strategies, designed to fortify an organization’s cyber defenses. The strategy is not just for government departments and agencies. Many private sector organizations have adopted it, recognizing its effectiveness in enhancing cybersecurity measures.
The Essential Eight, developed by the Australian Signals Directorate, aligns with the Australian Government’s Information Security Manual (ISM), outlining a cyber security framework that covers four key activities:
- Govern
- Protect
- Detect
- Respond
The Essential Eight is a strategic investment in cybersecurity, serving as a guide to navigating the ever-evolving landscape of digital threats. But what exactly does the Essential Eight entail? What are its components, and why was it created? How does it strengthen an organization’s defenses? These are the questions we will explore further as we delve into the origins, purpose, and components of the Essential Eight.
The Essential Eight is not just a strategy for cybersecurity, however. It’s a commitment to data protection, a promise to stakeholders that their information is secure. The Essential Eight is more than a list of guidelines – it’s a comprehensive framework designed to build resilience and shield organizations from the most common and damaging cyber threats.
Learn more: The Australian Signals Directorate: an Overview
The Origin and Purpose of the Essential Eight
The Essential Eight was developed to provide a solid defensive line against cyber threats. Its strategies are designed to protect against a range of cyber threats and mitigate the damage from potential attacks.
By implementing the Essential Eight, organizations can build a resilient cybersecurity infrastructure capable of withstanding attacks and ensuring the integrity and confidentiality of their data.
The Components of the Essential Eight
The Essential Eight comprises strategies that harden an organization’s cyber defenses. These include:
- Application Control: designed to prevent the execution of unapproved applications
- Patching Applications: keeps software updated and secure against known vulnerabilities
- Systems Hardening: involves comprehensive auditing and remediation of potential security vulnerabilities in technology infrastructure, including software, systems, and hardware.
The requirements outlined in the Essential Eight provide a robust framework for securing an organization’s digital assets, making it crucial to collaborate with a digital transformation agency.
Who Should Implement the Essential Eight?
While the Essential Eight is a requirement for Australian Government entities, it is also beneficial for private sector organizations. The Protective Security Policy Framework assesses third-party organizations on their security measures to determine eligibility for government contracts.
The Information Security Registered Assessors Program IRAP applies not only to Australian federal, state, and local government entities using cloud services but also to New Zealand government agencies using Australian cloud services. By implementing the Essential Eight, organizations can enhance their cybersecurity posture and meet the stringent security requirements necessary for collaborating with governmental entities.
Learn more: The Essential Guide to the Protective Security Policy Framework
The First Line of Defense: Application Control

A key pillar of the Essential Eight strategy is application control, a critical line of defense in cybersecurity. Application control through whitelisting allows only pre-approved software to run on systems, thereby preventing the execution of harmful applications. By only allowing software explicitly approved by administrators, whitelisting provides robust protection against malware attacks, including ransomware. However, maintaining a whitelist requires regularly reviewing and updating it to include essential business applications and remove those that are obsolete or non-essential.
Application control is not just about creating a list of approved applications. It’s about establishing a secure environment where only trusted applications can operate. This requires:
- careful management and regular updates to the whitelist
- ensuring that it reflects the current needs of the business
- not leaving any room for cyber threats.
Implementing effective application controls is crucial for enhancing an organization’s cybersecurity posture. But how can organizations define application whitelisting? And what strategies can they employ to implement effective application controls? Let’s explore.
Defining Application Whitelisting
Application whitelisting is the process of creating a list of authorized software that is permitted to run on a system. This approach is more restrictive and proactive than blacklisting approaches that only block known malicious software. To implement application whitelisting, organizations begin by compiling a comprehensive list of allowed applications, which can be enforced through the operating system or by utilizing third-party solutions.
Whitelisting can be managed using various attributes like file names, paths, and sizes, or more securely through cryptographic hashing and digital signatures, to ensure only authenticated software is run.
Implementing Effective Application Controls
Implementing effective application controls is a multi-step process. It begins with:
- Creating a comprehensive inventory of applications; unlisted software will be blocked from running.
- Creating an access policy that classifies essential and non-essential business applications, allowing whitelisting and user access based on roles.
- Including cloud applications essential for business in the application whitelisting process, with access limited to necessary users.
The implementation of application controls should be comprehensive. Here are some key steps to consider:
- Define whitelisted applications using secure identifiers like the publisher’s signature or cryptographic file hash to prevent malware spoofing.
- Use application whitelisting for both on-premises and cloud-based applications to ensure complete security across the technology environment.
- Verify the publisher of software before whitelisting to prevent approving malicious programs.
By following these steps, you can enhance the security of your applications and protect against potential threats.
Patch Management Tactics

Patch management is another crucial component of the Essential Eight strategy. Patching operating systems is vital, requiring ‘extreme risk’ vulnerabilities to be mitigated within 48 hours and establishing the use of the latest operating system version for enhanced protection. Patch management serves as a critical component in securing endpoints, protecting against breaches by addressing vulnerabilities in a timely manner. Automated patch management tools play a crucial role in maintaining system security, ensuring updates are applied consistently and expeditiously to stave off potential breaches.
Patching is not just about fixing vulnerabilities. It’s about maintaining the integrity and security of the entire system. A patch management strategy that prioritizes critical updates can significantly enhance an organization’s security posture. But how can organizations prioritize patches? And what tactics can they use to streamline the patch management process? These are the questions we will explore in this section.
However, patch management is not just about fixing vulnerabilities, it’s also about enhancing system features. Beyond enhancing security, patch management also delivers feature updates, enabling users to access new functionalities. It also includes hardening tactics like automatic patches, removing redundant components, encrypting storage, and restricting system permissions, thus providing a comprehensive approach to maintaining system security.
Prioritizing Patches for Enhanced Security
Prioritizing patches is a vital aspect of an effective patch management strategy. A critical-updates-first approach ensures urgent attention to patches that address the most critical security risks. However, patch prioritization can be challenging, with 65% of businesses experiencing difficulties in this area.
To accurately prioritize patches, risk classification must be implemented, focusing on critical assets and considering the exploitability of vulnerabilities rather than solely relying on severity ratings. The Essential Eight Maturity Model mandates the patching of applications with ‘extreme risk’ vulnerabilities within 48 hours, particularly for applications that interact with internet content.
Streamlining the Patch Management Process
Streamlining the patch management process is key to maintaining an efficient and effective cybersecurity posture. Here are some tips for automating patch management:
- Automate the deployment of security updates to ensure fast and accurate deployments.
- Plan scheduled auto-deployments, such as twice a week, to allow for proper patch testing and approval.
- This will support a smooth patch management workflow and help keep your systems secure.
A streamlined patch management process also necessitates collaboration among technical teams. Fostering collaborative communication about patch management processes increases both efficiency and effectiveness. Tracking patch deployment progress is instrumental in confirming that the updates are successful and vulnerabilities have been addressed.
By implementing an effective patch management process, organizations can significantly enhance their cybersecurity defenses.
Macro Settings and User Application Hardening
Macro settings and user application hardening are key elements of the Essential Eight strategy. Macros in Microsoft Office can be automated tasks or sequences of tasks that users can enable or disable in a range of Microsoft Office products, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. However, the default Microsoft Office installations enable macros to run automatically, presenting a significant security risk as malicious macros can be used to trigger malware installations without the user’s knowledge. To enhance security, Office macro settings should be configured to ‘Disable all macros without notification’, thereby preventing the automatic execution of macros.
Application hardening, on the other hand, involves setting up configurations that block the exploitation of vulnerabilities. This includes using only software that is essential for business operations, and deploying web browsers with security features enabled. But what does it mean to harden user applications against attacks? And how can organizations manage macro risks? We will delve into these topics in the following sections.
Hardening User Applications Against Attacks
Application hardening, or software hardening, is crucial for securing software installed on a network. This involves strategies for addressing vulnerabilities, such as removing non-essential components, auditing software integrations to eliminate unnecessary privileges, and maintaining secure coding practices.
Limiting the capabilities of malicious web content is a priority in User Application Hardening, ensuring that unwanted actions cannot be taken from within web interfaces. Configuring settings such as ‘trust access to the VBA project object model’ can restrict programmatically controlling the VBA environment, helping to prevent unauthorized access or manipulations.
Managing Macro Risks
Managing macro risks is an integral part of a robust cybersecurity strategy. Organizations should change macro security settings in Microsoft Office to control which macros run and under what circumstances when opening a workbook. The Trust Center in Microsoft Office allows users to set macro security options such as:
- Disabling all macros without notification
- Disabling macros with notification
- Disabling all macros except those that are digitally signed by a trusted publisher.
Managing macro risks effectively requires a disciplined approach. Here are some guidelines to follow:
- Users should never enable macros in a Microsoft Office file unless certain of what the macros do and that the functionality they provide is needed.
- Choosing to ‘Disable all macros except digitally signed macros’ allows macros signed by a trusted publisher to run after the publisher has been trusted, while all unsigned macros are disabled without notification.
- For individual documents that require macros, users can choose to make them trusted to enable macros, with the option to revoke trust later.
By following these guidelines, you can minimize the risks associated with macros.
Restricting Administrative Privileges

Restricting administrative privileges is another key strategy in the Essential Eight. Administrative privileges allow users to make significant changes to system configuration, bypass security settings, and access sensitive data. An environment with restricted administrative privileges is more stable and predictable, as fewer users can make substantial changes to the operating environment. Restricting Administrative Privileges is about limiting access based on user duties and the principle of least privilege, ensuring that this access is granted only when necessary.
The principle of least privilege is a key security concept that underpins the restriction of administrative privileges. But why is this principle so important in risk management? And what strategies can organizations employ to enforce administrative restrictions? Let’s explore these issues in the following sections.
The Importance of Principle of Least Privilege
The principle of least privilege is a core concept in effective risk management. It involves:
- Limiting the attack surface by restricting access rights to only what is necessary
- Making privileged account exploitation more challenging for attackers
- Helping in achieving compliance with regulations and standards that mandate organizations to enforce minimal access rights to preserve the security of personal and sensitive information.
Moreover, adopting the principle of least privilege contributes to system stability and reliability by minimizing unauthorized alterations or the possibility of introducing software that could interrupt standard business operations.
Strategies for Enforcing Administrative Restrictions
Enforcing administrative restrictions is a critical aspect of an effective cybersecurity strategy. Here are some key steps to follow:
- Implement the Principle of Least Privilege by granting users only the access necessary to perform their job functions, reducing the risks of system changes and data breaches.
- Create distinct separate accounts for administrative tasks without internet or email service access, clearly differentiating them from normal user accounts.
- Limit access to critical admin tools through whitelisting.
- Implement technical controls to prevent privileged accounts from accessing the internet, except for necessary cloud service management.
By following these steps, you can enhance the security of your system and protect against potential threats.
Regular validation of the necessity of privileged accounts, followed by removal of unnecessary ones, is also essential in maintaining administrative privileges. Two person integrity or dual authorization methods should be employed to require multiple authorizations for critical admin tasks, thereby enhancing accountability.
Through these strategies, organizations can effectively enforce administrative restrictions, enhancing their cybersecurity postures.
Multi-factor Authentication Implementation
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is a mandatory requirement for authenticating privileged system users, enhancing security during sensitive operations. MFA is a critical security feature for both privileged and non-privileged accounts, providing a fortified authentication process. By implementing MFA across the organization, an extra layer of security is added for both network and local access to administrative and other accounts, preventing unauthorized access.
The benefits of MFA in risk management are significant. But how can organizations deploy MFA across the organization effectively? What are the best practices for implementing MFA? The following sections will delve into these topics.
Benefits of MFA in Risk Management
MFA is a powerful tool in risk management. It provides additional security layers, significantly reducing the chance of consumer identities becoming compromised. MFA ensures that even if one authentication factor is compromised, such as a password, unauthorized users would still need to overcome additional factors to access the system.
The use of MFA, especially with complex passwords and SSO solutions, makes it significantly challenging for hackers to gain unauthorized access. Moreover, MFA is non-invasive and does not affect the rest of an organization’s virtual space, facilitating easy implementation.
Deploying MFA Across the Organization
Deploying MFA across an organization is a critical step in enhancing cybersecurity. MFA should be implemented across all user types and access points within an organization, such as cloud and on-premises applications, VPNs, and server logins, to minimize exposure to attacks. The deployment of MFA requires furnishing users with multiple credentials which include passwords, time-based one-time passwords (TOTP) from authenticator apps, and biometric authentication.
Educating users on the importance and usage of MFA is important for its successful deployment and helps mitigate resistance from users who may see additional security measures as inconvenient. Opting for a standards-based approach to MFA ensures interoperability across devices and networks and complies with standards like RADIUS and OATH.
To enhance user experience, adaptive MFA leverages contextual information to determine when additional authentication factors are necessary, thereby reducing unnecessary prompts.
Daily Backup Protocols
Daily backups are essential for ensuring data integrity and availability, protecting against potential data loss from various threats, including human error, hard drive failures, malware, theft, loss, or natural disasters. The 3-2-1 backup strategy is advised, entailing three separate data copies, storage on two different media, and maintaining one backup copy offsite for optimal security. Block Level Incremental (BLI) backups are advantageous for implementing rapid and routine backups by only copying data blocks that have changed, thereby not requiring a complete file copy and saving time.
Establishing robust backup procedures and testing and restoring from backups are two critical aspects of an effective backup strategy. But how can organizations establish these procedures? And why is it important to test and restore from backups? Let’s explore these topics in the following sections.
Establishing Robust Backup Procedures
Establishing robust backup procedures is vital for data protection. Following the 3-2-1 backup rule is a cornerstone of a robust backup strategy, ensuring there are three copies of data, two local on different media, and one offsite. Regular backups are performed by backing up critical data, systems, and configurations daily, with a recommended retention period of at least three months. Service-level demands determine backup frequency, sometimes necessitating backups as frequently as every 15 minutes for critical data.
Automated backups can be set up to facilitate the process, and their frequency can be adjusted based on the data’s importance.
Testing and Restoring from Backups
Testing and restoring from backups is a critical aspect of data protection. Regularly testing backup systems is crucial to ensure that data can be recovered when necessary, especially across different backup options such as removable devices, external hard drives, and cloud services. Testing should include different types of restores, such as file-level, application-level, and bare-metal restores to cover all potential recovery scenarios. Testing backups should include verifying that endpoint and Software as a Service (SaaS) data is also being backed up effectively, as these are often overlooked in backup processes.
It is essential to regularly verify the integrity and usability of backups by restoring them to a separate environment, and conducting a full restore of the data to a non-production environment for validating both the data and the procedures for restoration. By regularly testing and restoring from backups, organizations can ensure the availability of their data and the robustness of their backup procedures.
Continuous Incident Response and Recovery Planning
Continuous planning for incident response and recovery is crucial in reducing the impact of cyber incidents and promoting a rapid and coordinated response to security breaches. A comprehensive cyber incident response plan should encompass procedures for dealing with various cyber attack types, including data breaches, insider threats, and ransomware. Regular monitoring and timely adjustment of response strategies are necessary to maintain the effectiveness of cybersecurity controls against a backdrop of constantly evolving cyber threats.
Crafting an effective incident response plan and devising recovery strategies post-incident are two critical aspects of incident response and recovery planning. But how can organizations craft an effective incident response plan? And what strategies can they employ for recovery post-incident? Let’s delve into these topics in the following sections.
Crafting an Effective Incident Response Plan
Crafting an effective incident response plan is a strategic task that demands careful planning and execution. The incident response plan should include a detailed assessment of the organization’s main cybersecurity risks and prepare for a variety of potential incident scenarios. A structured response plan checklist should be part of the incident response framework, incorporating steps such as Preparation, Identification, Containment, Eradication, Recovery, and Lessons Learned.
An efficient incident response requires the collaboration of different departments, including IT, HR, legal, and public relations, to address the complex facets of a cyber incident’s aftermath.
Recovery Strategies Post-Incident
Recovery post-incident is a critical aspect of incident response and recovery planning. A cyber recovery system requires a cyber vault that is both physically and virtually isolated to function as a secure data center, ensuring the integrity of backups and facilitating data restoration after network cleanup. Establishing a disaster recovery process is critical to reducing downtime and ensuring that business operations can be resumed quickly after a cyber incident.
Recovery from a cyber incident includes legal compliance, such as notifying all affected parties and issuing public statements to manage PR fallout. Cyber attacks can significantly elevate the cost of recovery, making it crucial to have robust plans in place to mitigate the potential financial and reputational damage.
Post-incident, it is essential for cyber security professionals to analyze cybersecurity measures, update protocols, change passwords, and provide further education to staff to prevent future breaches.
Enhancing Security with the Essential Eight Maturity Model
The Essential Eight Maturity Model is a tool designed to measure an organization’s ability to identify and mitigate cyber risks through a structured assessment of security protocols and the implementation of a risk management framework. The model defines four maturity levels, from zero to three, providing a measurable way for organizations to understand their current cybersecurity posture. Organizations use the maturity model to evaluate their effective use of security measures such as application whitelisting, patching applications and operating systems, and administrating privileges.
Understanding the maturity levels and the path to achieving higher maturity levels are two critical aspects of the Essential Eight Maturity Model. But what do these maturity levels mean? And how can organizations achieve higher maturity levels? We will explore these topics in the following sections.
Understanding the Maturity Levels
The Essential Eight Maturity Model consists of four levels, which aim to guide organizations to align with the Essential Eight strategies considering the importance of their data protection needs and potential capabilities of their attackers.
Level Zero in the model indicates significant weaknesses, Level One shows partial alignment, Level Two is indicative of mostly alignment, and Level Three reflects full alignment with the intended mitigation strategies.
Path to Achieving Higher Maturity Levels
Achieving higher maturity levels in the Essential Eight Maturity Model requires strategic planning and execution. Organizations should aim to reach uniform maturity levels across all Essential Eight controls before proceeding to the next level to ensure comprehensive security.
The Essential Eight needs to evolve to include specific guidance for securing cloud environments and SaaS applications to mitigate emerging security threats. A cloud security guidance package can be a helpful resource in this process, along with measures for securing company assets in SaaS applications, such as preventing unauthorized access via shared links or internet searches. Support from entities like the Office of Digital Government and the use of a certified cloud services list can further enhance this process. Additionally, a cloud services certification program can provide valuable training and resources for IT professionals.
Leveraging Expertise for Compliance
Leveraging expertise for compliance is a vital aspect of the Essential Eight strategy. IRAP accreditation can offer several benefits to organizations, including:
- Demonstration of robust information security standards
- Gaining a competitive edge when tendering for contracts
- Building trust with clients and stakeholders
- Cost savings through the prevention of security incidents, helping to avoid the high expenses linked to data breaches
By obtaining IRAP accreditation, organizations can benefit from these advantages.
The role of IRAP assessors in validating security measures and the importance of collaborating with industry representatives for best practices are two critical aspects of leveraging expertise for compliance. But what is the role of IRAP assessors? And why is it important to collaborate with industry representatives? We will explore these topics in the following sections.
Learn more: A Comprehensive IRAP Assessment Checklist
Role of IRAP Assessors in Validating Security Measures
IRAP assessors play a vital role in validating security measures. They are responsible for independently assessing cybersecurity posture, identifying risks, and suggesting mitigation measures. IRAP assessors conduct security assessment evaluations using two standard auditing procedures to ensure thorough and consistent assessments of information security capabilities.
The IRAP assessment of Microsoft’s services and operations ensures that security controls are effectively in place for the protection of data, and similar assessments are conducted for other services like AWS to examine controls against the requirements of the ISM.
Collaborating with Industry Representatives for Best Practices
Collaborating with government and industry representatives for best practices is a key aspect of leveraging expertise for compliance. Partnerships and collaboration form the foundation of effective cybersecurity defenses, allowing for cooperative action across public and private sectors. Through working with the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) and leveraging industry insights, organizations can implement the Essential Eight strategies effectively, leading to improved cybersecurity practices.
Information sharing programs, such as those by CISA in the US, and campaigns like Cybersecurity Awareness Month provide crucial security resources, promote resilience, and increase awareness among industry partners and government entities, including chief information security officers. Ongoing collaboration and keeping abreast with updates are essential due to the dynamic nature of the Essential Eight strategies and maturity levels to maintain and enhance cybersecurity frameworks.
Summary
The Essential Eight provides a robust framework that organizations can use to enhance their cybersecurity posture. By understanding the components of the Essential Eight and implementing the strategies, organizations can effectively mitigate cyber risks, protect their data, and ensure business continuity. As cyber threats continue to evolve, it becomes increasingly critical for organizations to stay abreast of best practices in cybersecurity and continuously enhance their defenses. The Essential Eight offers a strategic roadmap to achieving this goal.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Australian Essential 8?
The Australian Essential Eight is a cybersecurity framework developed by the Australian Cyber Security Centre, as an upgrade from the original set of 4 security controls by the ASD. It was published in 2017.
What is the difference between NIST CSF and Essential 8?
The NIST CSF provides comprehensive best practices for managing cybersecurity risk, while the ASD Essential 8 focuses on specific mandatory controls to reduce cyber-attack risk. Both frameworks aim to enhance cybersecurity, but they have different focuses and approaches.
What is the Essential 8 scorecard?
The Essential 8 Scorecard provides measurement and management of cyber risk by assessing the effectiveness of your organization’s security controls against the Essential 8 Framework, which includes eight key cyber security strategies proven to mitigate 85% of cyber threats.
What are the components of the Essential Eight?
The components of the Essential Eight are Application Control, Patching Applications, Patching Operating Systems, Configuring Microsoft Office Macro Settings, Multi-Factor Authentication, User Application Hardening, and Regular Backups. These strategies aim to prevent unauthorized application execution, maintain updated software, and safeguard against known vulnerabilities.
What is the role of an IRAP assessor?
The role of an IRAP assessor is critical in validating an organization’s cybersecurity measures by independently assessing its cybersecurity posture, identifying risks, and suggesting mitigation measures. This ensures the organization’s security is up to standards.