What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on MACRO-ISM-1673 Microsoft Office macros are blocked from making Win32 API calls?

Attack surface reduction rule blocking Win32 API calls from Office macros in block mode; Rule compliance report.

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

`MACRO-ISM-1673` Microsoft Office macros are blocked from making Win32 API calls

Microsoft Office macros are blocked from making Win32 API calls. Required at Maturity Levels Two and Three of the Restrict Microsoft Office macros mitigation strategy (Appendices B and C); ISM control ISM-1673 in ASD's Essential Eight to ISM mapping (December 2023).

Source: ACSC Essential Eight Maturity Model (November 2023), MACRO-ISM-1673. 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

easy

to go live

Cloud console / configuration management

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

Rule compliance report · Cloud console / configuration management

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

none for this control

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

Attack surface reduction rule blocking Win32 API calls from Office macros in block mode · Document repository

First move

Automate the pull from your Cloud console / configuration management. Configuration snapshots and change history from the cloud console or IaC repository, diffed against the baseline.

Common gaps auditors find

Rule in audit mode only

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-1672 Microsoft Office macro antivirus scanning is enabled · MACRO-ISM-1674 Only Microsoft Office macros running from within a sandboxed environment, a Trusted Location or that are…