Security Readiness Report

Summary

Your Essential Eight, overall

Where you stand across all eight controls, and the roadmap to Level 1.

Environment Windows & Mac Scope Essential Eight · Level 1 Prepared for a small business Format sample
Sample

A format preview of the overall summary, the owner-facing hub that sits over the eight individual control reports. The status shown is an example, not a real assessment.

Where you stand

3of 8ready for Level 1

Essential Eight Level 1 means all eight controls in place. Based on your answers, three are ready already, including the foundations many small businesses miss: multi-factor authentication, regular backups, and operating-system updates. Five controls to go.

Level 1 is the destination: every one of the eight in place. Because it takes all eight, the quickest route there is to close the remaining five using the roadmap below, not to polish what already works.

Self-check

This is a self-assessment: it reflects the answers you gave, not an independent audit. It shows where you likely stand and what to focus on. A formal assessment would test each control in your setup.

The eight controls

Multi-factor authenticationReady
Regular backupsReady
Patch operating systemsReady
Patch applicationsGap
Restrict admin privilegesGap
Configure Office macrosGap
User application hardeningGap
Application controlGap

Your roadmap to Level 1

Your five gaps, sequenced for a small business: quickest wins first, the most disruptive last. Each links to its own step-by-step report.

  1. 1

    Patch applications

    Quick win

    You already patch your operating systems, point the same automatic updates at your apps and browsers. Little effort, and it closes one of the most exploited gaps.

    Open the Patch applications report ›
  2. 2

    Restrict administrative privileges

    Mostly process

    Give day-to-day work standard accounts and keep admin rights for admin tasks only. High impact, and largely free, it is a decision and a bit of setup.

    Open the Restrict admin report ›
  3. 3

    Configure Microsoft Office macros

    Settings change

    Block macros coming from the internet across Microsoft 365. Free, and quick to set centrally for everyone.

    Open the Office macros report ›
  4. 4

    User application hardening

    Settings change

    Lock down browsers: no Java or ads from the internet, and staff cannot loosen the settings. Built into the browsers you already use.

    Open the Application hardening report ›
  5. 5

    Application control

    Biggest lift

    The most protective control and the most disruptive, so do it last, with a proper pilot. Its report has the full three-part plan (decisions, your team, and the technical setup).

    Open the Application control report ›

Cost and effort, the whole journey

Typical cost
Free to lowfree with built-in tools; any outside help or subscription is optional
Quickest win
Patch applications
Biggest lift
Application control
Realistic timeline
A few months
Scope

Phones and tablets are out of scope. The Essential Eight is built for your work computers and network, not the mobile devices themselves. You will have answered a few questions about your phone under multi-factor authentication, but that is about using it to sign in safely, not about securing the phone. Protecting the phones and tablets your team uses for work, keeping them updated, encrypted, and wipeable if lost, is a separate exercise that sits outside the Essential Eight, so it is not scored here.

How to use this

Read this page for the overall picture. When you are ready to act, open the report for the control you are tackling, each one is a step-by-step plan you can hand to whoever sets it up, whether that is you or your IT provider. Work through the roadmap above and re-check where you stand as each gap closes.