Sydney-based cyber security specialist Huntsman Security has launched a new test tool, allowing companies to assess the efficacy of their security defences in realtime. 

The company billed the ‘Auditor’ as a self-install, agent-less product that provides internal and external stakeholders with a clear objective measure of an organisation’s cyber resilience.

“As government and commercial organisations continue to struggle with their exposure to cyber-risk, The Auditor gives instant visibility of an organisation’s security control effectiveness by providing cyber security performance metrics against the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) Essential 8 mitigation strategies identified in the Australian Government cyber security framework,” Huntsman Security added, noting that in New South Wales, state government policy requires a report detailing a maturity assessment against the ACSC Essential 8 by 31 August each year.

The Auditor compliments the successful “Essential 8 Scorecard” which was launched by Huntsman Security in 2018. With the Scorecard, CIOs are given a continuous, enterprise-wide view of their organisation’s performance against the Essential 8 controls. As a Computer Aided Audit Tool (CAAT), the Essential 8 Auditor comes into its own where a continuous view isn’t required. It delivers a realtime comprehensive audit of cyber posture.

The firm said the Auditor also serves as a management tool to support security specialists seeking to improve their security posture. 

“No matter how good or detailed your criteria for effective security, if you only measure it once a year, it won’t give auditors a representative view of operations and it certainly won’t enable the proactive management of risk that security teams and executives aspire to, said Huntsman Security CEO and founder Peter Woollacott.

The first release of the Essential 8 Auditor is scheduled for August 2019.