ACSC Essential Eight
Learn more about the ACSC Essential Eight
1. Application Control
Restrict the applications that can run on systems to only those approved by the organization.
What is the ACSC Essential Eight?
Overview
Although no set of mitigation tactics can offer an absolute shield against all cyber threats, it is advised that organizations adopt the eight fundamental mitigation strategies outlined in the ACSC’s “Strategies to Mitigate Cyber Security Incidents” as a foundational approach. These core strategies, collectively referred to as the Essential Eight, substantially enhance the difficulty for malicious actors to infiltrate systems. Introduced in 2017, the Essential Eight represents a progression from the Australian Signals Directorate’s (ASD) Top Four recommendations.
The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) is an Australian government agency responsible for foreign signals intelligence, cybersecurity, and information warfare. The ASD provides assistance and guidance to Australian government agencies and organizations to enhance their cybersecurity practices and protect their digital assets from cyber threats.
The “Essential Eight” is a set of cybersecurity strategies developed by the ASD as part of their Australian Government Information Security Manual (ISM). These strategies are designed to mitigate the most common cyber threats faced by organizations and are intended to improve the overall cybersecurity posture of government agencies and critical infrastructure operators in Australia. The Essential Eight is not only applicable to government agencies but is also considered a valuable framework for private sector organizations to bolster their cybersecurity practices.
The Essential Eight consists of the following mitigation strategies:
2. Application patching
Regularly update and patch applications to address vulnerabilities.
3. Configure Microsoft Office Macro Settings
Disable unnecessary macros in Microsoft Office applications and only allow vetted macros to run.
4. User Application Hardening
Configure web browsers and email clients to block malicious content and scripts.
5. Restrict Administrative Privileges
Limit administrative access to systems to authorized personnel.
6. Patch Operating Systems
Keep operating systems up to date with the latest security patches.
7. Multi-factor Authentication
Implement multi-factor authentication for accessing critical systems and data.
8.Daily Backups:
Regularly back up important data and store backups offline to prevent data loss from ransomware and other attacks.
Implementing these strategies can significantly enhance an organization’s resilience against cyber threats, reduce the attack surface, and improve incident response capabilities. The Essential Eight is considered a foundational approach to cybersecurity and is part of a broader effort to ensure the security and integrity of digital systems in Australia.
What is the ACSC Essential Eight maturity model?
Maturity model
The updated ACSC Essential Eight maturity model was released in July 2021, offering Australian businesses advice on the application of ACSC Essential Eight strategies. Utilizing a scoring range of 0-3, this model aids in gauging your organization’s security stance and suggests logical progression points for bolstering your protective measures.
Before, organizations were tasked with selectively adopting strategies from the Essential Eight. However, the present model emphasizes the comprehensive adoption of all eight strategies as a unified approach, owing to their synergistic qualities and heightened attention to the ever-changing threat environment.
Overcoming common security challenges
Common challenges
Are you aware of your vulnerabilities?
Identifying the right path and recognizing optimal methods while crafting a security approach can prove to be challenging.
Being an internal member, confronted with an ever-shifting landscape of threats, it becomes complex to appraise your surroundings impartially for risk identification. Given the constraints of time and resources, determining the starting point and deciding what holds priority during the establishment and execution of a security plan can pose difficulties.
Expert Tip: Enlist an external specialist to evaluate your surroundings for a comprehensive understanding of your security stance.
How many security tools are under your management?
Numerous enterprises have embraced standardized security solutions, which frequently have areas of overlap or gaps within the security framework. These individual solutions lack the incorporation into your wider IT ecosystem that ensures your organization’s security.
Overseeing security through a multitude of tools generates a intricate setting, complicating the detection of warning signs amid a multitude of alerts. This results in difficulties in swiftly addressing problems, thereby increasing the margin for mistakes.
Expert Suggestion: Avoid excessive complexity in your security approach – elegance is the utmost form of sophistication.
How much are you paying for the current situation?
Clients lacking a uniform security approach face greater vulnerability to attacks, heightened attack repercussions, and delayed restoration. Violations can lead to substantial financial and legal fines due to failure in adhering to regulations.
As much as 88% of reported breaches pertain to contact details, encompassing personal data like names, residential addresses, contact numbers, and email addresses. This varies from identity particulars, which were exposed in 60% of breaches, encompassing specifics like birthdates, passport particulars, and driver’s license information.
Pro Tip: Streamline your security approach for enhanced management of your defensive strategy.
What is an Essential Eight Assessment?
Assessment
Using the ACSC guidelines as a foundation, Total Solutions IT has developed an Essential Eight Evaluation aimed at aiding organizations in comprehending and enhancing their security stance.
The Essential Eight Evaluation serves to offer insight into your present security maturity and protective position, aligning closely with the ACSC Essential Eight principles.
The process will commence with a discovery meeting to gain insights into your business, technological landscape, and primary objectives. Subsequent technical workshops will concentrate on topics such as application whitelisting, application and operating system patching, multi-factor authentication, administrator rights management, regular data backups, Microsoft Office macro oversight, and application fortification.
The Total Solutions IT Information Assurance Specialist will amass and scrutinize data concerning your implementation of each of the aforementioned measures. Elaborate findings will be synthesized into a report that offers tangible proof of your current security status, coupled with expert suggestions for enhancement. A broad project plan will be presented, outlining recommended endeavors, estimated expenses, timelines, as well as the requisite software, hardware, and services. The report will be conveyed to you for your assessment, succeeded by a presentation led by the evaluator to delve deeply into your outcomes.
Feel free to reach out to us to gain more insights into embarking on an Essential Eight Assessment.
