Essential Eight Pulse

What is the ASD Essential Eight?

The Essential Eight is a set of eight baseline cyber security mitigation strategies published by the Australian Signals Directorate: patch applications, patch operating systems, multi-factor authentication, restrict administrative privileges, application control, restrict Microsoft Office macros, user application hardening, and regular backups. Implemented competently, they prevent the majority of common cyber attacks on Australian organisations.

What are the Essential Eight maturity levels?

Maturity is measured for each strategy on a scale from Maturity Level 0 (requirements not met) to Maturity Level 3, where Level 1 is the baseline. Your overall maturity is set by your weakest control, not your average, because attackers exploit the one control left open.

Is the Essential Eight mandatory in Australia?

It is mandatory for Australian non-corporate Commonwealth entities and is the de facto benchmark across health, government and the wider economy. Even where it is not legally required, boards, regulators and cyber insurers increasingly expect organisations to evidence their Essential Eight maturity.

How do you assess Essential Eight maturity?

Assess each of the eight controls against the ASD maturity model requirements for your target level, record the evidence, and identify the gaps. The Essential Eight Pulse above gives an indicative read in three minutes; a structured self-assessment or an independent assessment goes deeper.