Organisation
Industry
Plan
Time to E8 Level 2
mICROSOFT sECURE sCORE
The Challenge
BWA understood their obligations. The challenge was executing them without a dedicated security function — and across an environment most managed services aren't built for.
A significant portion of their infrastructure runs on Apple devices. The ASD's Essential Eight framework is designed around Windows — meaning disk encryption, application controls, and user hardening each require entirely different tools on MacOS. For most providers, that means a separate engagement, a separate cost, and a gap in coverage in the meantime.
Maintaining compliance over time — monitoring controls, evidencing the posture, staying current as the environment changes — required more than periodic reviews could provide. BWA needed ongoing management, not a one-time assessment.
Why DefenderSuite
DefenderSuite took on the full lifecycle under a single plan — assessment, phased deployment, ongoing management, and compliance reporting — with no separate assessment fee and no remediation project billed on top.
The Apple device environment was handled as part of the engagement. Custom application control rules were built and tested. MacOS-specific configurations were scripted and deployed manually where required. Every control was validated against Essential Eight requirements before Level 2 status was confirmed.
The result: a fully managed security posture across both Windows and Apple infrastructure, maintained continuously without BWA needing to own any of it internally.
The Engagement
Onboarding took four months — the most technically complex deployment in the DefenderSuite client base.
Controls were deployed in three structured phases: low-impact first, medium-impact second, high-impact last. Each phase included a testing period to confirm nothing broke before the next layer was applied. Where issues arose, policies were adjusted, retested, and reconfirmed before moving forward.
The three-phase approach isn't unique to BWA — it's how DefenderSuite handles every onboarding. With a mixed Windows and Apple environment, it mattered more than most.
EDR: Windows & MacOS
Automated Patching
Managed Detection & Response
Monthly Security Reports
Phishing-Resistant MFA
Essential Eight Level 2
2TB CloudSafe Backup
Identity & Access
24/7 Security Monitoring
Security Training
Microsoft 365 Security
Quarterly Reviews
The Outcome
BWA operates at Essential Eight Level 2 across their full environment — Windows and Apple — with every control actively managed and the posture reviewed formally each quarter.
When leadership needs to evidence their security obligations, the answer is already documented.
Protect pERSONAL data
Basketball WA exists to grow the game but behind the scenes, we're also custodians of personal information for tens of thousands of members, many of them children. That responsibility rests with us, and we need to take it seriously. DefenderSuite gave us the structure, the controls, and the confidence to know we're protecting that data the way we should be.
The People in Your Database Are Trusting You
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