Chris Henderson Electrical

The Challenge

As a commercial electrical contractor working across major construction projects, Chris Henderson Electrical increasingly needed to demonstrate a strong, verifiable cyber security posture, the kind of assurance that project clients, auditors and cyber insurers now expect. The firm set a clear goal: reach ACSC Essential Eight Maturity Level 2 across its Microsoft 365 environment and staff devices.

An initial assessment put the organisation's Microsoft Secure Score in the high-risk range, a common and very fixable starting point. It gave everyone a clear, measurable baseline and a defined target to work towards.

The Solution

InterIntra delivered the uplift by making the most of the security capabilities already included with Microsoft 365, upgrading the firm to Microsoft 365 Business Premium so the full toolset was available, then configuring it to the Essential Eight Maturity Level 2 standard. The program covered:

• Hardened identity. Enforced multi-factor authentication for every user, plus Conditional Access policies that restrict access to the Microsoft 365 environment to within Australia, custom company branding to help staff recognise legitimate sign-ins, and two emergency "break glass" administrator accounts.
• Endpoint protection. Deployed Microsoft Defender for Business (next-generation antivirus and endpoint detection and response) across every device, replacing the previous antivirus, and applied the ACSC and Microsoft Windows and Office hardening baselines through Microsoft Intune, including BitLocker disk encryption.
• Email security. Configured Microsoft Defender for Office 365 advanced email filtering and set up DKIM email authentication to reduce phishing and email spoofing.
• Application control. Onboarded every device to an application control platform, building a list of trusted applications over a 30-day period before moving to enforcement, so only approved software can run, one of the ACSC's most effective controls.
• Mobile and BYOD protection. Applied Intune app-protection policies so company data stays contained and protected on staff personal devices, without the business needing to take over the device.
• 24/7 monitoring and response. Added a managed Security Operations Centre and identity threat detection, watching devices and the Microsoft 365 environment around the clock for threats such as suspicious sign-ins and mailbox fraud rules, with real-time response.
• Ongoing Secure Score management. Rather than a one-off uplift, InterIntra now actively manages the firm's Microsoft Secure Score, monitoring and remediating as Microsoft's standards evolve, so the Maturity Level 2 posture holds over time.

The Outcome

Chris Henderson Electrical now operates at ACSC Essential Eight Maturity Level 2, with its Microsoft Secure Score lifted out of the high-risk range and into the recommended strong range. Identity is protected by enforced multi-factor authentication and geo-restricted access, devices are hardened and encrypted, email is filtered and authenticated, only trusted applications can run, and the whole environment is monitored around the clock. Because the posture is actively maintained rather than set and forgotten, the firm can confidently demonstrate its security standard to clients, auditors and insurers, now and as expectations rise. Want to know where you stand? Try our free Essential Eight self-assessment tool.