What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on 04 User application hardening (Essential)?

Browser and Office hardening test on a sample workstation showing Java, Flash, ads and disabled Office features unavailable to the user; Browser configuration baseline showing Flash, Java and web ads blocked for internet sites; Hardening settings for Microsoft Office, web browsers and PDF viewers disabling unneeded features such as OLE and JavaScript; Compliance report showing the hardening policies applied to all user computers.

What is the most common gap auditors find on 04?

Browser hardening applied to the managed browser only, while users install unmanaged browsers

ASD Strategies to Mitigate Cyber Security Incidents · Preventing Malware Delivery and Execution

`04` User application hardening (Essential)

Configure web browsers to block Flash, ads and Java on the internet. Disable unneeded features in Microsoft Office, web browsers and PDF viewers.

Source: ASD Strategies to Mitigate Cyber Security Incidents, 04. 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 ASD Strategies to Mitigate Cyber Security Incidents in the compliance library.

artefacts

held by a system

at each review

easy

to go live

Endpoint management (MDM / EDR)

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

Browser configuration baseline showing Flash, Java and web ads blocked for internet sites · Endpoint management (MDM / EDR)
Hardening settings for Microsoft Office, web browsers and PDF viewers disabling unneeded features such as OLE and JavaScript · Endpoint management (MDM / EDR)
Compliance report showing the hardening policies applied to all user computers · Endpoint management (MDM / EDR)

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

Browser and Office hardening test on a sample workstation showing Java, Flash, ads and disabled Office features unavailable to the user · Endpoint management (MDM / EDR)

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

none for this control

First move

Automate the pull from your Endpoint management (MDM / EDR). Device compliance report from the MDM (encryption, EDR agent, OS version) on a daily pull.

Common gaps auditors find

Browser hardening applied to the managed browser only, while users install unmanaged browsers
PDF viewer JavaScript and embedded content left enabled by default
Users able to re-enable blocked features through browser extensions or local settings

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

03 Configure Microsoft Office macro settings (Essential) · 05 Automated dynamic analysis of email and web content (Excellent)