A mitigation strategy in the ASD Essentials (currently the Essential Eight), assessed against 3 tests at Maturity Level One.
Application control means only software your organisation has approved is allowed to run. Everything else, including malware and unapproved tools staff install themselves, is blocked before it can execute.
Why it matters
It is the single most effective strategy against ransomware and drive-by malware, which is why it sits first. For an organisation running shared or kiosk devices across multiple sites, it stops an infected download from ever running.
How Conformance helps
- Build an inventory of the applications each role genuinely needs
- Move from a blocklist to an allowlist of approved executables, scripts and installers
- Apply application control to user profile locations first, where most malware runs
- Log and review what gets blocked so you can tune the allowlist
- Keep the ruleset under change control so approvals are documented
Conformance validates this strategy from the evidence your organisation already produces, shows your maturity level, and tells you the next step to raise it.
Official guidance: ASD Essential Eight Maturity Model