Cyber Security
ESSENTIAL EIGHT.
MICROSOFT FIRST.
Align to the ACSC Essential Eight using the Microsoft 365 stack you already licence. Identity, endpoint, email, data and cloud apps run as one security surface — with board-reportable Maturity Level progress, not vendor slideware.
How we think about it
Four pillars. One Microsoft tenant.
You don't buy cyber. You operate it. Most of what we do is switching on the security controls you already pay Microsoft for, then running them properly month after month.
Identity is the new perimeter
Entra ID Conditional Access, MFA strengths, Privileged Identity Management and Identity Protection — the first thing to get right, the last thing attackers stop targeting.
Endpoints you actually manage
Intune + Defender for Endpoint for configuration, compliance, Attack Surface Reduction and Application Control. Fleet-wide hardening instead of checklist theatre.
Data with labels that stick
Microsoft Purview sensitivity labels, DLP and records management. Classification your staff actually use — and Copilot can actually respect.
Threats you can see
Defender XDR and Microsoft Sentinel tie identity, endpoint, email and cloud apps into a single investigation surface. Fewer blind spots, fewer 3am surprises.
The honest mapping
Essential Eight, one strategy at a time.
For each of the ACSC's eight mitigation strategies, here's the Microsoft tooling that does the heavy lifting. Not a vendor bingo card — just the controls we configure, tune and operate.
| # | Strategy | Microsoft 365 tools we use |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Application control | Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC), Intune, Defender for Endpoint |
| 02 | Patch applications | Defender Vulnerability Management, Intune, Windows Autopatch |
| 03 | Office macros | Intune Cloud Policy, ASR rules, Defender for Office 365 Safe Attachments |
| 04 | User application hardening | Intune Security Baselines, Edge policies, ASR rules |
| 05 | Restrict admin privileges | Entra ID PIM, Conditional Access, Privileged Access Workstations (PAW) |
| 06 | Patch operating systems | Windows Autopatch, Azure Update Manager, Defender VM |
| 07 | Multi-factor authentication | Entra ID Conditional Access, Authentication Strengths, FIDO2 / Windows Hello for Business |
| 08 | Regular backups | Purview retention, M365 backup partner (Veeam / AvePoint / Keepit), Azure Backup |
Why Frontrow
Four things most cyber vendors won't say.
We don't sell cyber by the shelf-metre
Most MSPs resell a SOC and a scanner. We run the Microsoft 365 security stack you already pay for, properly — then bring specialist partners (Excite Cyber, CyberCert, CyberWyze) in where they add something you can't get from inside the tenant.
Essential Eight mapped to Microsoft — not abstracted
For each of the eight strategies we name the exact M365 control, show you how it's configured today, and give you a gap-closure plan. No generic 'posture improvement'.
Built for Copilot-grade data
Copilot grounds on whatever your tenant exposes. Wrong permissions and labels mean wrong answers — sometimes sensitive ones. We pair Essential Eight work with Copilot readiness so you don't ship an information-leak engine.
Board-grade reporting
Monthly posture reporting your executive team can actually read. Essential Eight maturity, incident trends, unresolved risk — not a vendor dashboard screenshot.
Copilot + Cyber
A Copilot rollout
is an Essential Eight test.
Copilot reasons over whatever your tenant exposes. If your permissions are wrong, your labels are missing and your oversharing is uncapped, Copilot will surface it — confidently and at speed.
We pair Essential Eight uplift with Copilot readiness so the AI your team adopts doesn't become your next data-breach vector.
Identity
Entra ID Conditional Access + PIM
Endpoint
Intune + Defender for Endpoint
Email
Defender for Office 365
Data
Purview labels + DLP
Cloud apps
Defender for Cloud Apps
Threat
Defender XDR + Sentinel
Want an honest Essential Eight baseline?
Run our self-assessment, or book a 30-minute cyber review — we'll pressure-test your posture and tell you what's fine, what's theatre, and what to do first.