Essential Eight Maturity is Australia’s own cyber security framework that, if followed correctly, provides assurance that around 85% of cyberattacks can be defeated.
The Essential Eight Maturity Model was developed by the Australian Signals Directorate to help organisations protect their sensitive data from various cyber threats. Organisations can be assessed as having achieved one of four levels of maturity within the framework. All organisations start at Maturity Level 0 and must be assessed to progress.
To progress to the next maturity level, an organisation must meet the maturity standard for each of the eight mitigation strategies. For example, achieving Maturity Level 2 in seven strategies but only Maturity Level 1 in one means the organisation is considered to be at Maturity Level 1 overall. This Essential 8 Maturity Model describes a path where your security posture is only as strong as its weakest link.
Our proven Essential 8 Assessment framework effectively evaluates your current maturity level and provides a tailored plan to reach and maintain the next level of cyberattack readiness. This includes identifying gaps, recommending improvements, and supporting implementation to enhance your cyber security posture.
Your Essential 8 Maturity Level is determined by how well you implement the essential eight security controls defined by the Australian Cyber Security Centre.
Essential 8 Maturity Levels
You must meet all the Essential 8 Maturity checklist requirements of each element to progress:
Our Essential 8 Maturity Assessment is designed to give medium-sized organisations a complete view of their cyber security baseline and a practical improvement plan. Key features of the service include:
Please call us on 1300 667 871 or fill in the form below and we’ll be in touch quickly.
All organisations, regardless of size or sector, benefit from implementing the Essential Eight. This includes government agencies, large enterprises, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), schools, non-profits, and critical infrastructure providers. It is particularly valuable for SMBs because it offers an effective baseline of cyber security measures that are achievable even with limited resources. By adopting the essential eight maturity model, businesses can implement essential mitigation strategies that scale with their growth.
Essential Eight compliance is mandatory for Australian Federal Government agencies. It is recommended but not legally required for private organisations. However, many industries increasingly consider Essential Eight compliance a de facto requirement for cyber resilience and insurance purposes.
The Essential Eight uses a four-level maturity model:
Organisations select a maturity level based on their specific risk exposure, with higher-risk organisations aiming for Level 2 or 3. This approach helps define how a hacker might try to gain access and ensures your defences can't be bypassed; it is the core of the essential eight maturity model structure.
Essential Eight maturity is measured by assessing each of the eight strategies individually against the criteria for maturity levels (0-3). An organisation's overall maturity is determined by the lowest maturity level achieved across all strategies. Organisations typically conduct annual self-assessments or engage external auditors for independent evaluations. This unified scoring within the essential eight maturity model ensures there are no weak links in your perimeter.
The costs for the eight maturity models vary depending on your current environment's complexity. We focus on using your existing software, like Microsoft 365, to meet the requirements, which helps keep implementation costs manageable while significantly improving your security.
While frameworks like NIST or ISO 27001 provide a broad, high-level approach to security, the essential eight maturity model is a pragmatic, Australian-designed set of technical controls. It’s specifically built to be actionable, focusing on the most common vectors attackers use to target Australian businesses today.
The framework is designed to protect against various cyber threats, including ransomware, business email compromise (BEC), and sophisticated data exfiltration. It specifically targets "Living off the Land" techniques, where attackers use your own system tools against you. By hardening these specific areas, the model ensures that even if a threat actor gains a foothold, they cannot easily compromise systems or move laterally across your network.
Yes, the guidance is applicable across various operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux. During our assessment, we review your entire environment to ensure that patches and hardening policies are applied consistently across your fleet, regardless of the platform.
Essential Eight assessments typically involve:
Including these roles ensures technical accuracy, organisational alignment, and executive support for cyber security improvements.
Cyber security isn't a "set and forget" task. You should review your essential eight mitigation strategies at least annually, or whenever you make significant changes to your infrastructure. This ensures your controls evolve as fast as the adversaries do. Regular reviews of the eight essential mitigation strategies help you stay resilient against new and evolving cyber security incidents.
A core component of the assessment involves reviewing your regular backup strategy. By ensuring your backups are frequent, disconnected from the network, and regularly tested, we guarantee that your data and system availability remain intact even if a breach or hardware failure occurs.
Yes. Small businesses can effectively implement the Essential Eight because it focuses on straightforward, practical measures. Basic cyber security actions such as automatic updates, enabling MFA, restricting admin rights, and regular backups are achievable for small businesses even with limited IT resources. Simple steps like privileged access management ensure that even small teams can maintain a high level of security.
We help you find the target maturity level suitable for your unique business needs within the essential eight maturity model.
For most medium-sized organisations, the target is usually Maturity Level 2. This level provides a robust defence against targeted attacks. However, we’ll work with you to determine the right maturity level based on your specific risk profile and the sensitivity of the data you handle.
Implementing the Essential Eight can positively impact cyber insurance eligibility and potentially reduce premiums. Insurers increasingly use the Essential Eight as a baseline indicator of effective cyber risk management, making organisations that follow the framework more attractive due to reduced likelihood of claims. This is one of the most effective ways to improve cyber security while also managing your operational overheads.
Frameworks similar or complementary to the Essential Eight include:
Each provides broader or complementary guidelines, with the Essential Eight often serving as a practical subset within these comprehensive frameworks.
Common challenges include:
Despite these challenges, many organisations successfully implement Essential Eight by taking incremental steps and seeking external support where necessary.
ASD remains vendor-neutral and does not endorse specific products. Instead, it recommends using existing, reliable, and proven security tools and configurations available within standard operating systems and applications. Examples include built-in tools like Microsoft AppLocker for application control, Group Policy settings for macro restrictions, vulnerability scanners for patch management, and common MFA solutions integrated with popular cloud services.
