Australian Signals Directorate updates cybersecurity frameworks

The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) has launched ‘ASD Essentials’, a new cybersecurity framework designed to replace the widely used Essential Eight. The new framework aims to help Commonwealth entities, critical infrastructure operators, and large organisations strengthen resilience against complex cyberthreats through threat-informed and prioritised measures.

The Essentials framework is organized into focused chapters, including guidance for enterprise IT, operational technology (OT), and cloud environments (SaaS and PaaS). The ASD also provides AI-focused guidance to assist organisations in managing AI-enabled systems. During the transition, both the Essential Eight and the new Essentials framework will remain available on the official cyber.gov.au website.

Separately, the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) has issued a critical alert regarding vulnerabilities in Fortinet products. The ACSC is urging organisations to prioritise patching affected versions of FortiOS, FortiManager, FortiAnalyzer, FortiMail, and FortiAuthenticator. While no active exploitation has been reported in Australia, the ACSC recommends restricting administrative interfaces and using multi-factor authentication as mitigation steps.