From Compliance to Confidence: How DSPM Supports Australia’s Essential 8

Let's be honest: Cybersecurity isn't just important anymore; it's absolutely critical for Australian organisations looking to scale and thrive. According to Gartner, Australian organisations will spend nearly AU$6.2 billion on information security and risk management products in 2025, marking a 14.4% increase from the previous year. In another annual global survey by Gartner, 88% of ANZ respondents shared that they consider cybersecurity as a top investment in 2025, a trending choice two years in a row.  

Here is the challenge: Australian organisations struggle to fortify their cybersecurity posture without first establishing a solid baseline of fundamental cybersecurity practices and controls. In response to this, the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) strongly recommends the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) Essential 8, a set of practical mitigation strategies for safeguarding internet-connected information technology networks from common threats: 

• Patch applications
• Patch operating systems
• Use multi-factor authentication (MFA)
• Restrict administrative privileges
• Enforce application control
• Restrict Microsoft Office macros
• Follow user application hardening
• Ensure regular backups 

While these eight principles outline what needs to be done, many Australian organisations still struggle with how to implement and sustain these controls effectively.  

This is where data security posture management (DSPM) comes in. By continuously discovering, classifying, and monitoring sensitive data across various environments, DSPM helps organisations to go beyond the baseline compliance requirements outlined by the ACSC Essential 8. In this blog, we discuss how integrating DSPM into the organisation’s security framework facilitates lasting confidence in its security posture. 

Visibility and Classification: The Foundations for Compliance 

Imagine that your organisation has embraced hybrid and multi-cloud environments, but suddenly you're facing a visibility nightmare. Where exactly is your sensitive data hiding?

After all, you can’t protect something if you don’t know where it is. Organisations who can’t locate their critical data can lose ROI on their security investments, as they lack the right insights into which areas need bolstered protection.

Comprehensive Data Discovery and Classification

Think of your data as constantly on the move: flowing across databases and SaaS applications, creating a dynamic and complex cloud environment that is challenging to track. In contrast, legacy on-premises systems are known for their data silos. As organisations move from one environment to another, their data can scale and create gaps.

Here's where DSPM tools shine. They automatically and continuously scan and classify your sensitive data across multi-cloud and hybrid environments — even as your data volume explodes exponentially. By mapping data across modern and legacy systems, DSPM tools close data gaps, providing a centralised view of data (whether structured or unstructured) regardless of their location. Unified visibility is a must for organisations to enforce their security policies and controls across all their platforms.

ACSC Essential 8 tie-in: This comprehensive visibility strengthens an organisation’s adherence to the ASCS Essential 8 strategies, particularly application control and application user hardening. Application control ensures only approved and trusted programs run on systems, effectively blocking any malicious software from being installed. Application user hardening, on the other hand, refers to increasing security on the applications you use, which means turning off risky features, blocking ads, and ensuring apps are updated. By automatically finding and labelling sensitive data across all systems, DSPM tools give security teams enough visibility to pinpoint where data is accessed or stored by outdated or unauthorised applications.

Example: A large hospital network uses DSPM to uncover unencrypted patient records stored in legacy systems. This discovery enables the IT team to apply encryption and access controls, aligning with Essential 8 strategies and ensuring compliance with health data privacy laws.

Risk Prioritisation and Remediation: Beyond Checklists 

Let's face it: Complying with both global and Australian regulatory frameworks can be overwhelming. Just take a look at financial organisations that must meet different standards. Locally, they face the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) CPS 230 and CPS 234, which require business continuity planning and a fortified information security framework, respectively. At the same time, they must comply with global regulations like Service Organisation Controls (SOC 2) for data security and ISO/IEC 27001 for establishing trust in their information security management systems. 

Consequently, Australian organisations may look at their compliance efforts as merely a matter of ticking boxes rather than addressing real risk.

Continuous Data Exposure Evaluation and Risk Assessment 

Proactive security is the best proof that time is of the essence. Australian organisations eager to stay vigilant can leverage DSPM tools to scan their environments automatically. These tools not just monitor sensitive data but also detect any misconfigurations, excessive permissions, and policy violations in real time, rather than waiting for a security incident to occur. 

But moving beyond reactive checklists would require businesses to go beyond just detecting risks. Instead, they must prioritise resolving them without overburdening their security teams. DSPM tools use risk assessment algorithms that factor in data sensitivity, potential, impact, and exploitability, helping security teams prioritise the most critical vulnerabilities.  

DSPM tools also go a step further by recommending steps for remediation. These can range from adjusting permissions, encrypting exposed data, or enforcing policies, enabling faster, smarter response by businesses.

ACSC Essential 8 tie-in: This proactive approach significantly enhances an organisation’s adherence to key Essential 8 baseline principles, particularly restricting admin privileges, patching applications, and using MFA. The first strategy entails limiting who can make significant changes to systems, while the second involves keeping software up to date to fix security issues. Third, MFA provides an additional layer for better protection for logins. DSPM tools support these three strategies by uncovering hidden risks  — think overly broad access, outdated software handling critical information, or weak authentication that could give access to malicious actors. DSPM tools give teams the right context to fix issues before they escalate into serious security incidents.

Example: A mid-sized bank uses DSPM to detect that several unpatched systems are storing customer financial data. The platform prioritises these systems for immediate remediation, helping the bank reduce risk exposure and demonstrate proactive compliance with regulations.

Continuous Monitoring and Reporting: Building Credibility with Stakeholders

Compliance, just like business, is never static. Data is always in flux, moving across cloud, on-premises, and third-party systems. Similarly, cyberattacks evolve, requiring an endless cycle of monitoring, updating, and fortifying security controls. The strain on resources is real, and that includes the public sector. The (ASD) reported that in 2024, only 15% of entities reached Maturity Level 2 on the ACSC Essential 8 cybersecurity framework. 

Real-Time Insights to Simplify Compliance

This is where DSPM becomes your game-changer — helping with compliance and completely streamlining it. DSPM tools continuously provide real-time visibility by automating risk assessment and flagging misconfigurations and excessive permissions. By generating automated reports that align with regulatory requirements, DSPM tools ease the administrative burden of manually proving compliance during audits.

ACSC Essential 8 tie-in: This level of support directly enhances an organisation’s adherence to Essential 8. DSPM supports daily backups and security configurations by checking that backups are secure, as well as by alerting teams about misconfigurations exposing sensitive content. This added layer of resilience ensures recovery plans are not just available but also reliable, properly set-up systems.  

More importantly, by validating these controls, DSPM helps organisations go beyond basic compliance and into sustainable maintenance over time. This gives stakeholders confidence that cybersecurity measures and cyber safety protocols are fully operational, even while cyberattacks, environments, and regulatory frameworks evolve.

Example: A university uses DSPM to automate reporting on data access and backup  
status for its research data. This not only ensures compliance with grant requirements but also builds trust with academic partners and funding bodies.

The New Future of Cybersecurity: Beyond Basic Compliance

Compliance doesn’t have to be complex. For Australian organisations still grappling with cybersecurity principles and current regulations on data protection, DSPM offers proactive security, prioritised risk mitigation, and continuous monitoring.

With a holistic, integrated approach to automation and robust governance, Australian organisations can seamlessly embed governance and security protocols right off the bat into their daily operations, rather than treat them as an afterthought. 

Think of DSPM as more than just a compliance tool. It’s your strategic partner for building digital trust and securing long-term resilience.