Overview

 

The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) Essential 8 is a set of baseline strategies designed to make it significantly harder for adversaries to compromise systems. These eight mitigation strategies cover patching, application control, privileged access, backups, and more.

​

At SynAck, we provide a structured Essential 8 audit and alignment service that benchmarks your current maturity against the Essential 8 model, identifies gaps, and delivers a practical roadmap to uplift security controls.

​

We work hand-in-hand with your IT team, ensuring no overlap with internal responsibilities and focusing on areas where we can drive the highest return on investment (ROI). Our process is supported by the SynAck Compliance Manager (powered by Kaseya GRC), which automates control mapping, maturity tracking, and evidence collection.

​

​Why Essential 8 Alignment Matters

 

Implementing and maintaining the Essential 8 brings clear business value:

​

• Regulatory Confidence – Meet ACSC recommendations and strengthen compliance posture.

• Risk Reduction – Protect systems from common exploits, ransomware, and malicious insiders.

• Audit Readiness – Demonstrate maturity progress to regulators, auditors, and stakeholders.

• Cost-Effective Security – Focus resources on high-value, high-impact controls.

• Customer Trust – Show clients and partners that you adopt recognised Australian government standards.

 

Our Approach to Essential 8 Audit & Alignment

​

1. Maturity Assessment

​​

• Review existing controls across all eight strategies.

• Benchmark against ACSC’s maturity model (Levels 0–3).

• Deliver a baseline maturity scorecard.

 

2. Gap Analysis & Remediation Plan

​

• Identify specific gaps preventing higher maturity levels.

• Prioritize remediation efforts for highest risk reduction per dollar spent.

• Provide a phased roadmap for uplift.

 

3. Implementation Support

​

• Assist IT teams with deployment of missing controls.

• Integrate monitoring and reporting into SynAck Compliance Manager.

• Align Essential 8 with ISO 27001, NIST CSF, and other governance requirements where possible to avoid duplication.

 

4. Training & Workshops

​

• Conduct staff awareness and technical training tailored to Essential 8 strategies.

• Deliver workshops for IT operations teams to embed controls.

 

5. Continuous Monitoring & Audit-Readiness

​​

• Track Essential 8 maturity over time in SynAck Compliance Manager.

• Generate audit-ready reports with evidence mapping.

• Support preparation for external reviews or regulator inspections.

 

Methodologies and Frameworks

​

Our Essential 8 services leverage:

​

• ACSC Essential 8 Maturity Model – Baseline government-recommended framework.

• ISO/IEC 27001 – Alignment of Essential 8 strategies to international standards.

• NIST CSF – Supplementary framework for broader risk management.

• SynAck Compliance Manager (Kaseya GRC) – Tool for evidence capture, maturity tracking, and reporting.

 

Business Value

 

An Essential 8 Audit & Alignment engagement with SynAck ensures:

​

• Higher Maturity Levels – Structured uplift toward ACSC maturity benchmarks.

• Better ROI – Focused effort on the most impactful areas with no wasted overlap.

• Audit Efficiency – Centralized reporting reduces audit fatigue.

• Operational Resilience – Strengthened defences against ransomware and supply chain attacks.

• Competitive Edge – Demonstrated compliance with Australian government-recognized controls.

​​