Getting Started

What you’ll need

• A valid email address
• Your Australian Business Number (ABN) and/or Australian Company Number (ACN)
• Your business address

Steps

1. Go to the CyberSmart360 website and click “Start your free 7-day trial” on any page.
2. Complete the sign-up form. Enter your name and email address. No credit card required — you won’t enter any payment details unless you decide to subscribe later.
3. Create your password. Use a strong password of at least 12 characters.
4. Set up your organisation. You’ll be taken to the organisation setup page.
5. Land on your dashboard. From here, you can start your first assessment.

After you create your account, set up your organisation profile. This is what tailors your assessment to your business and produces accurate reports.

Required Fields

1. Business name — as it appears on your ABN or ACN registration.
2. ABN and/or ACN — enter at least one. ABN is 11 digits, ACN is 9 digits. Both are checksum-validated automatically.
3. Industry — choose from the dropdown. This sets the language used in your assessment. If nothing fits, choose “General SME.”
4. Business address — start typing and pick from the autocomplete (Australian addresses only).
5. Staff count — roughly how many people you employ.
6. Contact phone and email — optional, but worth adding.

The ACSC Essential Eight uses three maturity levels to describe how thoroughly an organisation has implemented the controls.

Maturity Level 1 (ML1) — Start Here

The baseline, covering the fundamental controls. Best for businesses new to cyber security compliance.

Maturity Level 2 (ML2) — Building on the Basics

Adds more rigorous requirements on top of ML1. Best for businesses that have reached ML1 and want to strengthen their position.

Maturity Level 3 (ML3) — Comprehensive Protection

The most demanding level, with more comprehensive controls such as centralised logging and more rigorous patching. Best for government contractors and businesses handling sensitive data.

Your first assessment usually takes 30 to 60 minutes, and never more than a couple of hours. You don’t need to do it in one sitting — your progress saves automatically.

Before You Begin

It helps to have a rough idea of:

• How your business handles software updates
• Whether your team uses multi-factor authentication (MFA)
• How you back up your data
• Whether you restrict which applications staff can install
• How you manage admin access to computers and systems

Steps

1. From your dashboard, click “Start new assessment.”
2. Choose your maturity level. We recommend ML1 for your first one.
3. Work through the 8 steps. Each one covers a single Essential Eight domain.
4. Save as you go. It auto-saves your progress.
5. Review and submit. Click “Submit assessment for analysis.”
6. Wait for your results. The AI analysis usually takes a few minutes, and we’ll email you when it’s ready.

Once your assessment has been analysed, you’ll find your results on the Assessment View page.

Compliance Score

Your overall compliance percentage (0–100%). Most businesses start somewhere between 20% and 50%, so don’t be discouraged.

AI Analysis Summary

• Strengths — what you’re already doing well
• Critical gaps — the most important areas to address, with the business impact spelled out
• Quick wins — easy improvements that make an immediate difference
• Professional help needed — controls that call for IT expertise

What To Do Next

1. Review your Remediation Plan
2. Download a PDF Report
3. Start on your quick wins