Organisation
Industry
Plan
Time to E8 Level 2
mICROSOFT sECURE sCORE
The Challenge
Maintain Group operates across mining, construction, infrastructure, and energy — managing active projects, subcontractor relationships, and operational data in a fast-moving environment where the team's focus is on delivery, not IT.
For a business without a dedicated security function, maintaining a genuine compliance posture requires constant effort — monitoring controls, staying current as the environment changes, responding when something needs attention. That's a significant ask of any operational team already running at capacity.
For Managing Director Jessica Garthshore, the question wasn't whether security mattered. It was whether it was sustainable to keep managing it internally — and whether the business could be confident controls were holding without someone actively checking.
Why DefenderSuite
DefenderSuite took complete ownership of Maintain Group's security posture — deploying, monitoring, and maintaining every control across the full Microsoft 365 environment without requiring ongoing input from the business.
Once onboarded at Essential Eight Level 2, Maintain Group moved to what DefenderSuite's technical lead describes as security auto-pilot: risk-based policies active, automated threat response running, and a 3-hour response time for critical incidents. The operations team doesn't manage any of it — and doesn't need to.
When something needs attention — a policy that needs adjusting after a software update, a flagged sign-in, a new device added to the environment — DefenderSuite handles it. Maintain Group finds out if they need to.
The Engagement
Onboarding completed in three months across Maintain Group's full Microsoft 365 environment — devices, identity, email, and cloud systems. Controls were deployed in three structured phases, with a testing window between each to confirm no disruption to project operations before the next layer went live.
Where policies needed adjustment — a new application, a changed workflow, a device that behaved differently to others — DefenderSuite resolved it within the testing phase and reconfirmed before moving forward. Essential Eight Level 2 was validated across the full environment before handover to ongoing managed operations.
Fully Deployed & Managed
Automated Patching
Managed Detection & Response
Monthly Security Reports
Phishing-Resistant MFA
Essential Eight Level 2
Identity & Access
24/7 Security Monitoring
Security Training
Microsoft 365 Security
Quarterly Reviews
The Outcome
Maintain Group operates at Essential Eight Level 2 with every control actively managed by DefenderSuite. The security posture is monitored continuously, reviewed quarterly, and maintained without any ongoing effort from the business. The team focuses on projects. Security runs in the background — and holds.
SECURE ACROSS EVERY SITE
Running FIFO and regional projects means our people, devices and data are constantly moving across some of WA's most remote sites. We needed to know our systems were secure regardless of where the work took us. DefenderPro handles that without us having to think about it, and the peace of mind that comes with that is worth more than we expected.
Security Shouldn't Be Another Job on Your Team's List
For project-based businesses and industrial contractors, cybersecurity rarely gets the dedicated attention it needs — not because it isn't taken seriously, but because there's no one whose job it is to own it. DefenderSuite takes that ownership entirely.
Start with a free Essential Eight assessment.
