What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on MACRO-ISM-1488 Microsoft Office macros in files originating from the internet are blocked?

Policy blocking macros in files from the internet (mark of the web); Test with a downloaded macro-enabled file.

What is the most common gap auditors find on MACRO-ISM-1488?

Setting applied to Word and Excel but not other Office applications

ACSC Essential Eight Maturity Model (November 2023) · Restrict Microsoft Office macros

`MACRO-ISM-1488` Microsoft Office macros in files originating from the internet are blocked

Microsoft Office macros in files originating from the internet are blocked. Required at Maturity Levels One, Two and Three of the Restrict Microsoft Office macros mitigation strategy (Appendices A, B and C); ISM control ISM-1488 in ASD's Essential Eight to ISM mapping (December 2023).

Source: ACSC Essential Eight Maturity Model (November 2023), MACRO-ISM-1488. The statement above is our statement of the clause, read from the published text and cited so you can check it against the official text, not the instrument verbatim. Open ACSC Essential Eight Maturity Model (November 2023) in the compliance library.

Each row is an ISM control the maturity model requires, with the maturity levels named in its text. Pick your target maturity level and use the rows for it.

artefacts

held by a system

at each review

hard

to go live

Policy repository / GRC workspace

where the evidence lives

teal = a system already holds it · olive = produced at each review. To go live: easy when half or more of the artefacts are already held by a system, moderate from a quarter to a half, hard below a quarter.

These are the artefacts auditors commonly ask for on this requirement, our guidance rather than text from the standard. Your assessor decides what is sufficient in your context, and asks for samples across the period when a report covers one.

system holds itEvidence a system already holds

none for this control

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

Test with a downloaded macro-enabled file · Document repository

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

Policy blocking macros in files from the internet (mark of the web) · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

No system holds this evidence for you: it is people and documents. Reminders and routing to the owner still save time. Put the document under version control with an owner and review date, and log each review as a record with reviewer and date.

Common gaps auditors find

Setting applied to Word and Excel but not other Office applications

Do this for your whole sheet

Paste the rows you run your controls from and get this mapping for every control at once, with the periodic-review ones flagged and a first move per row. No account for the first run.

Build my evidence sheet

MACRO-ISM-1487 Only privileged users responsible for checking that Microsoft Office macros are free of malicious code can… · MACRO-ISM-1489 Microsoft Office macro security settings cannot be changed by users