When most people hear “cybersecurity,” they immediately think it’s an IT issue. Servers, firewalls, patching, passwords… all things best left to the technical team, right?
Wrong.
If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that cybersecurity is a business risk, not just a technical challenge. And like any business risk be it financial, legal or operational, it needs to be owned and understood at the executive and board level.
That’s where the Essential 8 can help. While it’s often presented as a technical framework, at its core, it’s a practical, risk-based approach to protecting your business. And the good news? You don’t need to be a cybersecurity expert to lead this conversation, you just need to ask the right questions.
Think of the Essential 8 as a set of critical behaviours and controls that significantly reduce your exposure to cyber incidents. It’s not about locking everything down to the point of stopping business; it’s about building resilience so you can keep operating even if something goes wrong.
The framework covers eight core areas:
Application Control
Patch Applications
Configure Microsoft Office Macro Settings
User Application Hardening
Restrict Administrative Privileges
Patch Operating Systems
Multi-Factor Authentication
Regular Backups
Sounds technical, right? But each of these controls tie directly back to policy decisions, governance oversight, and risk management strategies that executives must be part of.
Ask yourself: Do we have clear, business-aligned cybersecurity policies in place?
Policies drive behaviour. Without them, you’re relying on best guesses and hoping for the best. Your IT team shouldn’t be setting these in isolation. Cyber policies should align with your risk appetite, operational priorities, and compliance obligations.
Good places to start:
Incident Response Policy (What happens when—not if—you face a breach?)
Access Control Policy (Who really needs admin rights?)
Data Backup and Recovery Policy (How quickly can we recover critical data?)
Cyber risk should be on your board or executive agenda, right alongside financial and legal risks. Governance isn’t about knowing the technical details, it’s about ensuring accountability, oversight, and regular review.
Questions you should be asking:
Do we have a cybersecurity framework in place (like Essential 8)?
How often is our risk assessed, and how is it reported to leadership?
Who is ultimately accountable for cyber resilience in the business?
Too many businesses focus on ticking boxes. The real value comes from understanding how well you’re implementing controls, not just if they exist.
Consider adopting a maturity model approach—set goals to move from “Ad hoc and reactive” to “Proactive and optimised.” This gives your teams clear targets and helps you make better investment decisions.
The hard truth is, breaches will happen. Focus less on trying to block every threat and more on how your business will respond and recover.
Ask:
How quickly can we detect a breach?
How prepared are we to respond?
What’s our recovery plan, and have we tested it?
Resilience is what keeps businesses alive when things go sideways.
Final Thought
Cybersecurity isn’t a technical problem; it’s a business leadership challenge. The Essential 8 isn’t something you delegate, it’s a conversation you lead.
And when you lead it well, you don’t just reduce risk, you build trust, improve operational resilience, and protect the reputation you’ve worked so hard to build.