ASD Essential Eight · Maturity Assessments

Stop grading Essential Eight maturity in a spreadsheet.

Rampart Nexus is where auditors run Essential Eight assessments end to end — scoring, sign-off, findings, and client reporting — with one version of the truth per engagement, not a file called final_v3_USE_THIS.xlsx.

Built around the ASD Essential Eight Maturity Model — mitigation strategies and maturity levels, structured as data.

The problem with the spreadsheet

The framework was never the hard part. Keeping the file honest was.

Every audit shop has one: a shared workbook that's been passed between assessors for two years, with a macro nobody wants to touch and a "final" tab that isn't.

The shared workbook
  • Every assessor phrases the same requirement differently
  • Sign-off is an email, not a state
  • One tab per client, copy-pasted and drifting
  • Findings live in comments, not a register
  • One broken formula and the whole score is wrong
Rampart Nexus
  • Requirements pulled straight from the ASD framework, worded the same way every time
  • Draft → in review → signed off, enforced by role
  • Every client and engagement scoped and isolated
  • A real findings register — severity, owner, target date
  • Scoring runs from the framework, not a formula you inherited
The framework

Eight mitigation strategies. One place to assess all of them.

Rampart Nexus is structured around the ASD Essential Eight exactly as published — nothing renamed, nothing reordered — so what's on screen matches what you'll write in the report.

01

Patch Applications

Closing known vulnerabilities in internet-facing software before they're exploited.

02

Patch Operating Systems

The same discipline, applied to the OS layer that everything else runs on.

03

Multi-factor Authentication

A second, verified factor on the accounts and services that matter most.

04

Restrict Administrative Privileges

Admin rights granted by need, reviewed on a schedule, revoked when work ends.

05

Application Control

Only approved, trusted executables and scripts are allowed to run.

06

Restrict MS Office Macros

Macros disabled by default, only enabled from vetted, signed sources.

07

User Application Hardening

Browsers and everyday apps configured to shrink their own attack surface.

08

Regular Backups

Backups taken, tested, and kept isolated from the accounts that could delete them.

Maturity levels

Every control sits at a level. Rampart Nexus shows you the climb.

Maturity isn't pass or fail — it's how much tradecraft an organisation can currently resist. Rampart Nexus scores each of the eight strategies against all four levels and rolls them up automatically.

ML0Not aligned

Gaps in the basics

Controls aren't yet in place, or don't hold up against the intent of the strategy. The starting point for most first assessments.

ML1Partly aligned

Resists opportunistic attempts

Enough is in place to stop attackers relying on publicly available, low-effort techniques and default tooling.

ML2Mostly aligned

Resists targeted effort

Controls hold up against adversaries willing to invest more time — social engineering, some tailoring, more patience.

ML3Fully aligned

Resists sophisticated tradecraft

Controls are tuned to slow down and detect adversaries who adapt their approach specifically to get past them.

The platform

Everything an assessment needs, none of it in a cell reference.

Rampart Nexus covers the full lifecycle of an engagement — not just the scorecard.

Sign-off workflow

Draft, in review, signed off — with the transition rules your firm actually wants, and a locked record once a client accepts it.

Findings register

Every gap becomes a tracked finding — severity, recommendation, owner, and target date — sorted and scoped per assessment.

Role-based access

Viewer, Assessor, Auditor, Admin, Owner — each sees and can change exactly what their role allows, enforced on the server, not just hidden in the UI.

Multi-client organisations

Every client engagement lives in its own isolated organisation — nothing bleeds across clients, ever, by design not by convention.

Client-ready reporting

Executive summary, per-control scorecards, and the findings register in a single report, built from live assessment data.

Partner & licensing console

Reseller-friendly — manage multiple client organisations and licenses under a partner account, or run a single license yourself.

Who's in the room

Built for how an audit engagement is actually staffed.

Viewer

Client-side stakeholders who need visibility into progress and findings, without edit access.

Assessor

Does the day-to-day scoring and submits an assessment for review when it's ready.

Auditor

Owns the findings register and the accuracy of the assessment as it's being built.

Admin / Owner

The only roles that can sign off an assessment, manage users, or revert a submission to draft.

Bring your next Essential Eight engagement into Rampart Nexus.

15 minutes, your actual framework, no slide deck.