Essential Eight Compliance
Small-medium businesses are the most at-risk of cyber threats
Cyber Threats to Small Businesses in Australia (2023–24)
As highlighted by Brooks (2023-2024) in Forbes and the Australian Cyber Security Centre’s Annual Cyber Threat Report (2023–2024), cybercrime is on the rise, with small and medium-sized businesses being major targets. Many of these organisations lack the resources to defend against or recover from attacks.
Medium-sized businesses, defined as having 20 to 199 employees, recorded the highest average financial losses in cases where money was stolen—emphasising the need for stronger cybersecurity measures in this sector.
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The Financial Toll
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Most Common Cybercrimes Reported by Businesses
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Response & Support Activity
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Key Threat Vectors
$49,600
Average cost of a cybercrime incident for small businesses—up 8% from the previous year
$55,000+
Average loss per confirmed Business Email Compromise (BEC) incident
$84 million
Total reported losses from BEC across all business sizes
20%
Email compromise (no financial loss)
13%
Online banking fraud
13%
BEC fraud with financial loss
36,700+
36,700+ calls to the Australian Cyber Security Hotline—12% increase from the previous year
1,100+
1,100+ incidents responded to by ASD, with 11% involving ransomware
- Phishing remains the top entry point—delivered via email, SMS, or QR codes
- Small businesses are especially vulnerable due to limited cyber maturity and resource constraints
The Financial Toll
$49,600
Average cost of a cybercrime incident for small businesses—up 8% from the previous year.
$55,000+
Average loss per confirmed Business Email Compromise (BEC) incident.
$84 million
Total reported losses from BEC across all business sizes.
Most Common Cybercrimes Reported by Businesses
20%
Email compromise (no financial loss)
13%
Online banking fraud
13%
BEC fraud with financial loss
Most Common Cybercrimes Reported by Businesses
36,700+
36,700+ calls to the Australian Cyber Security Hotline—12% increase from the previous year.
1,100+
1,100+ incidents responded to by ASD, with 11% involving ransomware.
Key Threat Vectors
- Phishing remains the top entry point—delivered via email, SMS, or QR codes.
- Small businesses are especially vulnerable due to limited cyber maturity and resource constraints.
Our value
Australian Cyber Security Centre’s Essential Eight
Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), based within the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), has published a useful set of online resources that discuss the controls to put in place to keep your organisation secure.
While no cybersecurity measure can guarantee complete protection, organisations are advised to adopt the eight core strategies outlined in the ACSC’s Strategies to Mitigate Cyber Security Incidents as a minimum standard.
Referred to as the Essential Eight, this framework is designed to make it significantly more challenging for attackers to gain unauthorised access to systems.
The Essential Eight covers eight key areas where security measures should be applied to help safeguard your organisation (see Figure 1).
- Application Control
- Patch Applications
- Configure MS Office Macro Settings
- User Application Hardening
- Restrict Admin Privileges
- Patching Operating System
- Multi-factor Authentication
- Regular Backups
Although the Essential Eight significantly reduces the risk of cyber threats, it doesn’t eliminate them entirely. Strengthening your organisation’s maturity across these strategies may require considerable time and effort, but it’s typically far less demanding than dealing with the aftermath of a major cyber incident that could seriously disrupt business operations.
Our Proposal
SpaceTel will carry out a thorough assessment of your IT environment to determine how well your organisation meets the requirements of Maturity Level One under the ACSC Essential Eight framework.
Once the assessment is complete, you will receive a clear and detailed report outlining your organisation’s current alignment with each of the Essential Eight strategies. This report will present an easy-to-follow evaluation of controls, indicating which areas are fully implemented, partially implemented, or not yet addressed. (Refer to Figure 2 for a sample report.)
The report will also include tailored recommendations to help your organisation achieve full alignment with the Essential Eight framework
- Gain clear insights into how your organisation aligns with the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) guidelines.
- Understand the steps needed to lower the chances of cyber attacks.
- Receive a straightforward report to keep you and your stakeholders informed.
- Access valuable information to support smart investment decisions in improving your cyber security.
Get In Contact With Us
To learn more, fill out the contact form below or reach out to our Sales Team at 08 7084 0930. If you’re an existing ICT partner, please connect with your Customer Success Manager for further details.