ACSC Essential EightAWS Well-Architected Security Pillar

ACSC Essential Eight covers 20.6% of AWS Well-Architected Security Pillar

13 of the 63 controls in AWS Well-Architected Security Pillar are already satisfied by evidence you collected for ACSC Essential Eight. 50 are genuine gaps. Every claim below was judged against both control sets and then argued against; the ones that did not survive are published further down with the reason each failed.

20.6%

of the target already covered

controls evidenced

genuine gaps

claims rejected in review

This number is directional. It says how much of AWS Well-Architected Security Pillar your ACSC Essential Eight evidence satisfies. The reverse pair is a different number, often very different, because a security standard has enormous depth for access control and almost none for lawful basis or data subject rights.

30 candidate mappings were examined and 0 were removed. Signed off 2026-08-19, review level machine verified. Mappings were judged by Claude Code rather than read line by line by a practitioner. Every claim shows its reasoning so you can check it. Ask and a practitioner will review this pair.

Where the gaps are

Coverage is never evenly spread. A source standard usually satisfies one part of a target almost completely and barely touches another, and which part is which is the thing worth knowing before you plan the work.

Detection2 of 4 evidenced, 2 to do

Identity & Access Management6 of 15 evidenced, 9 to do

Infrastructure Protection3 of 9 evidenced, 6 to do

Security Foundations2 of 8 evidenced, 6 to do

Incident Response0 of 8 evidenced, 8 to do

Application Security0 of 8 evidenced, 8 to do

Data Protection0 of 11 evidenced, 11 to do

Theme level, not control level, deliberately. The per-control list of what is evidenced and what is a gap is the report itself, so publishing it here would be publishing the thing being sold.

Claims that held

A sample. Each one names the control whose evidence does the work, the control it satisfies, and why.

E8-MFA-ML2SEC 1: How do you securely operate your workload? | SEC01-BP02argued against and upheld

Secure account root user and properties

Privileged accounts, which includes the account root user, must carry multi-factor authentication.

E8-PATCHAPP-ML1SEC 1: How do you securely operate your workload? | SEC01-BP04argued against and upheld

Stay up to date with security threats and recommendations

A vulnerability database is kept current and drives action on newly published flaws.

E8-MFA-ML3SEC 2: How do you manage identities for people and machines? | SEC02-BP01argued against and upheld

Use strong sign-in mechanisms

Phishing resistant, verifier impersonation resistant factors are required for all users.

E8-MFA-ML1SEC 2: How do you manage identities for people and machines? | SEC02-BP01argued against and upheld

Use strong sign-in mechanisms

Multi-factor authentication is mandated on internet facing and customer facing services.

E8-ADMIN-ML3SEC 2: How do you manage identities for people and machines? | SEC02-BP02argued against and upheld

Use temporary credentials

Just in time administration replaces standing privilege with time bound elevation.

E8-ADMIN-ML1SEC 3: How do you manage permissions for people and machines? | SEC03-BP01argued against and upheld

Define access requirements

Requests for privileged access to systems, applications and repositories are validated when first made.

E8-ADMIN-ML3SEC 3: How do you manage permissions for people and machines? | SEC03-BP02argued against and upheld

Grant least privilege access

Privileged access is limited to only what users and services require for their duties.

E8-ADMIN-ML2SEC 3: How do you manage permissions for people and machines? | SEC03-BP03argued against and upheld

Establish emergency access process

Break glass account credentials must be long, unique, unpredictable and managed.

Claims that did not hold

Nothing proposed for this pair was rejected in review. That is unusual and worth knowing rather than hiding: it means the candidate set was small and every candidate held.

The full report

Everything above is a sample. The report is every evidenced control and every gap, with the reasoning and the source document behind each one, in a form you can hand to an assessor. $299, emailed immediately.

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