Critical controls

Critical Controls

CERT NZ's Critical Controls

Each year, we review our critical controls against the incidents we have seen over the past 12 months. When correctly im

Critical Controls

Password manager

Providing a password manager for your staff to store their passwords, or other secrets like alarm codes, is a great way

Critical Controls

Asset Lifecycle Management

Limiting and securing your internet-exposed services will help you prevent unauthorised access.

Critical Controls

Secure defaults for macros

While macros have a valid business function, they are often used by attackers too. Using secure default configurations w

Critical Controls

Network segmentation and separation

When paired together, segmentation and separation can add an additional level of access control and security to your net

Critical Controls

Centralised logging

Storing and securing your logs in a central place makes log analysis and alerting easier.

Critical Controls

Implement and test backups

After an incident, restoring your data from backups is often the best way to return to business as usual. Performing and

Critical Controls

Principle of least privilege

The principle of least privilege means only having the access you need to do your job. Restricting the level access to o

Critical Controls

Multi-factor authentication and verification

You can authenticate with something you know, something you have, or something you are. Multi-factor authentication (MFA

Critical Controls

Implement application control

Application allowlisting (otherwise known as whitelisting) is a method of strictly controlling what programs can be run

Critical Controls

Patching

Keeping your software up-to-date is one of the most simple and effective steps to take, to ensure your environment stays