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Compliance & Risk Assurance

Compliance without a roadmap
is just managed anxiety

Meeting your compliance obligations shouldn't be the primary motivation for improving your security. But failing to meet them — particularly under APRA CPS 234, ASD Essential Eight or IRAP — has consequences that go well beyond an audit finding. Regulatory censure, reputational damage and the operational disruption of a reactive remediation programme are all avoidable with the right preparation.

Discuss Your Obligations Book a Compliance Scoping Call

Frameworks We Cover

ASD Essential Eight ML0–ML3 assessment & uplift
IRAP Government classification assessments
APRA CPS 234 Financial services cyber obligations
ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Certification gap analysis & readiness
SOC 2 Type II Service organisation readiness
Privacy Act / NDB Notifiable data breach obligations
The Compliance Reality

Regulatory obligations are tightening.
The cost of non-compliance is material.

Australian regulatory expectations for cyber security have moved decisively from guidance to obligation over the last four years. APRA expects regulated entities to actively test, remediate and attest. The ASD Essential Eight is now mandatory for most Commonwealth agencies and expected by the majority of state government bodies. IRAP assessments are required for systems handling classified data. And ISO 27001 is increasingly demanded by enterprise clients as a prerequisite for doing business.

The organisations that handle this well are not the ones that scramble into compliance mode when an audit is announced. They are the ones that run a continuous compliance programme — where obligations are tracked, controls are tested and evidence is maintained as a standard operating practice.

Proactive compliance preparation costs a fraction of reactive remediation. And reactive remediation after a regulatory finding costs a fraction of what a public censure or significant data breach costs your organisation in trust.

  • Map your complete regulatory obligation set — across all relevant frameworks
  • Assess current control maturity against each obligation
  • Build a prioritised uplift programme that addresses gaps systematically
  • Maintain audit-ready evidence on a continuous basis
  • Engage confidently with regulators, auditors and enterprise clients

The Consequence of Non-Compliance

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APRA CPS 234 — Financial Services

APRA can require regulated entities to engage independent assessors at their own cost, restrict business activities or impose additional capital requirements. Public enforcement actions are published and permanent.

Supervisory action · Capital add-ons · Public censure
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ASD Essential Eight — Government

Commonwealth agencies that cannot demonstrate Essential Eight compliance risk loss of ASD certification, exclusion from government contracts and mandatory remediation programmes imposed by the Australian Signals Directorate.

Contract exclusion · Mandatory remediation · ASD oversight
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Privacy Act — Notifiable Data Breaches

The Privacy Act requires notification to the OAIC and affected individuals for eligible data breaches. The OAIC can conduct investigations, apply civil penalties and issue public determinations for serious or repeated failures.

Up to $50M penalty · Public determination · OAIC investigation
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SOCI Act — Critical Infrastructure

Operators of critical infrastructure assets that fail to meet risk management programme obligations face civil penalties and can be subject to government intervention in their systems under Step-in powers.

Civil penalties · Government step-in powers · Public register
Frameworks We Cover

Every framework your sector
requires — in a single practice

We maintain deep, current expertise across every major Australian and international compliance framework. Where your obligations span multiple frameworks, we cross-map requirements to eliminate duplication and reduce the total cost of compliance.

All Regulated Entities

ASD Essential Eight

The baseline cybersecurity framework for Australian organisations. Mandatory for Commonwealth agencies, expected by most state regulators and increasingly required by enterprise clients. We assess current maturity and build structured uplift programmes to reach your target maturity level.

What we deliver
Current maturity assessment (ML0–ML3)
Gap analysis with prioritised findings
Uplift roadmap to target maturity
Evidence pack for ASD attestation
Financial Services

APRA CPS 234

APRA requires regulated entities — banks, insurers, super funds and RSE licensees — to maintain information security capabilities commensurate with their size and the threats they face, and to demonstrate this on demand. We help regulated entities build audit-ready programmes that survive scrutiny, not just satisfy documentation requirements.

What we deliver
CPS 234 obligation mapping and gap assessment
Testing programme design and oversight
Board reporting and attestation support
APRA engagement and inquiry management
Australian Government

IRAP Assessment

Our IRAP-certified assessors conduct formal assessments of systems handling Australian Government data — from OFFICIAL through PROTECTED classifications. We manage the full assessment lifecycle, including risk acceptance documentation, Statement of Applicability and evidence packages for agency approval.

What we deliver
Full IRAP assessment by certified assessors
ISM control assessment and documentation
Risk acceptance and SoA documentation
Agency authority to operate support
Enterprise & Global

ISO/IEC 27001:2022

We conduct gap assessments against the full ISO 27001:2022 control set, build your remediation programme and prepare the evidence required for certification or annual surveillance audit. We have supported organisations through first-time certification, recertification and scope extensions across multiple legal entities.

What we deliver
ISO 27001:2022 gap assessment
ISMS design and documentation
Certification audit preparation
Ongoing surveillance audit support
Technology & SaaS

SOC 2 Type II

For technology companies, MSPs and SaaS providers whose enterprise customers require independent attestation of their security controls. We design your control environment to satisfy the Trust Services Criteria, prepare you for audit and support you through the attestation period and annual renewal cycle.

What we deliver
TSC gap analysis and control design
Audit readiness assessment
Evidence collection and management
Annual renewal programme design
Critical Infrastructure

SOCI Act & Risk Management

For operators of critical infrastructure assets subject to the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act. We help organisations establish their risk management programme obligations, develop sector-specific security plans and navigate the notification requirements — including the ASD's 12-hour critical incident notification obligation.

What we deliver
Critical infrastructure risk management programme
Sector security plan development
Incident notification framework
ASD engagement and audit support
Our Approach

Genuine compliance, not
documentation compliance

Passing an audit should not be your goal. Building a security programme that genuinely reduces risk — and happens to satisfy your audit requirements as a consequence — is a fundamentally different objective. We structure every compliance engagement around the former.

1

Obligation Mapping

We establish the complete set of compliance obligations relevant to your organisation — across regulatory frameworks, contractual requirements, industry standards and board-mandated policies. Most organisations are surprised by the breadth of what applies to them when mapped comprehensively.

2

Control Assessment

We assess your existing controls against each obligation set — testing not just whether controls exist, but whether they are effective, consistently applied, and evidenced to the standard required by your framework. We map controls across frameworks to identify where a single control satisfies multiple requirements.

3

Gap Remediation

We build and own a prioritised remediation programme, working with your security and technology teams to close gaps in the sequence that addresses the highest-consequence obligations first. Remediation is tracked against a living register — not a static project plan.

4

Attestation & Ongoing Assurance

We support your attestation process — preparing evidence packs, managing auditor engagement and briefing your board on the outcome. We then establish an ongoing assurance programme so your compliance posture is maintained continuously, not rebuilt from scratch each audit cycle.

How We Differ

Most compliance engagements are structured around producing the documentation an auditor will ask for. The audit passes. The security gaps that the documentation obscures remain open.

We build compliance programmes where the controls are real, the evidence is genuine and the audit outcome reflects your actual security posture — not a document-management exercise.

  • ✓ Controls tested for effectiveness, not just existence
  • ✓ Evidence maintained continuously, not assembled pre-audit
  • ✓ Cross-framework mapping to reduce duplication and cost
  • ✓ Remediation owned and tracked by your GadgetAccess advisor
  • ✓ Board reporting in plain language — risk, not compliance jargon
  • ✓ Ongoing assurance programme post-attestation
    • Sector Obligations

    Your sector's compliance landscape —
    and what it requires of you

    Compliance obligations are not sector-agnostic. The frameworks that apply to a financial institution, a government agency, a healthcare network and a technology company differ materially — and the consequences of non-compliance in each sector reflect that difference.

    🏦

    Financial Services

    APRA-regulated entities operate under CPS 234 and a suite of related prudential standards. The obligations cover information asset classification, control maintenance, testing and notification. APRA's supervisory intensity has increased significantly since 2020, and its enforcement record now includes public determinations, directed remediation and capital add-ons for non-compliant entities.

    CPS 234 CPS 220 ASD Essential Eight Privacy Act NDB Scheme
    🏛️

    Government & Defence

    Commonwealth and state government entities operate under the ISM and ASD Essential Eight framework, with IRAP assessment required for systems handling classified information. The SOCI Act adds risk management programme obligations for entities operating critical infrastructure assets — a category that has expanded significantly to include data storage, financial market infrastructure and communications systems.

    ASD Essential Eight IRAP ISM SOCI Act PSPF
    🏥

    Healthcare & Life Sciences

    Healthcare organisations handle some of the most sensitive personal information in the Australian economy — and face obligations under the Privacy Act, the My Health Records Act and, for larger entities, the SOCI Act. The volume and sensitivity of health data makes this sector a high-value target, and the regulatory environment is tightening accordingly.

    Privacy Act My Health Records Act NDB Scheme SOCI Act ASD Essential Eight
    💻

    Technology & SaaS

    Technology companies, MSPs and SaaS providers face a dual compliance challenge: managing their own security obligations under the Privacy Act and any applicable regulatory frameworks, while demonstrating to enterprise customers that their security controls meet the standards those customers require. SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 are increasingly the baseline requirement for enterprise procurement.

    SOC 2 Type II ISO 27001 Privacy Act NDB Scheme Customer SLAs
    What You Receive

    Every engagement produces
    six compliance-ready outputs

    Our compliance engagements deliver a complete set of outputs — structured to satisfy auditors, inform your board and give your security team a clear operational programme to execute against.

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    Obligation Register

    A complete register of your compliance obligations mapped to their regulatory source, control requirement and current status — maintained as a live document throughout the engagement.

    🔍

    Control Gap Assessment

    A structured assessment of your existing controls against each obligation — with findings rated by severity, evidence quality and remediation complexity. Cross-mapped across frameworks to eliminate duplication.

    🗺️

    Remediation Roadmap

    A phased remediation programme structured by priority and effort — with clear ownership, timelines and the risk reduction delivered at each milestone. Board-ready and auditor-shareable.

    📁

    Audit Evidence Pack

    A structured evidence pack documenting your controls, testing performed and findings — formatted to satisfy the specific evidence requirements of your framework's audit or attestation process.

    📊

    Board Risk Report

    An executive-ready compliance risk report that translates your control environment into business consequence language — suitable for board, audit committee and regulatory submissions.

    🔄

    Ongoing Assurance Programme

    A continuous assurance framework — including testing schedules, evidence maintenance processes and quarterly review cadence — so your compliance posture is maintained between formal audit cycles.

    Our Track Record

    Compliance programmes that
    survive scrutiny

    100% Of IRAP assessments delivered on schedule and accepted by agency
    6 Compliance frameworks covered in a single advisory practice
    3× faster Average time to audit readiness vs. internal programmes alone
    Zero Regulatory enforcement actions against GadgetAccess-prepared clients

    We had been preparing for our ISO 27001 certification for 18 months internally with limited progress. GadgetAccess completed a gap assessment in two weeks, built us a structured remediation programme and had us audit-ready in four months. We achieved certification on the first attempt. The evidence pack they produced was the most organised our auditors had seen.

    — Chief Information Security Officer, ASX-listed Professional Services Group
    Don't Let Compliance Become a Crisis

    Proactive preparation costs
    a fraction of reactive remediation.

    A compliance scoping call takes 30 minutes. We'll map your obligation set, identify your highest-priority gaps and recommend the engagement model that gets you to attestation-ready in the shortest timeframe.

    Book a Compliance Scoping Call View All Services

    Engagements scoped to your framework, sector and timeline. Typical first response within one business day.