AWD engineers writing technical guidance for Australian businesses

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Practical IT and security guidance for Australian businesses.

Plain-English guidance on managed IT, security and cloud from the engineers who do the work.

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Compliance 12 Jun 2026 7 min read

The Essential Eight is being replaced. What Australian businesses should do now.

ASD announced in June 2026 that the Essential Eight will be retired in favour of a new Essentials series over about two years. Here is what changes, what does not, and why the maturity work you do this year still counts.

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Illustration of a glowing shield outline over streams of code
Compliance 03 Jun 2026 8 min read

The Essential Eight, explained for people who are not security engineers

A plain-language walk through the eight strategies, the four maturity levels, who is actually required to comply, and where most Australian businesses really sit.

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Illustration of a padlock on a cloud icon connected by circuit lines
Cloud & 365 28 May 2026 5 min read

Microsoft looks after uptime, not your data

The shared responsibility model catches a lot of teams out. What Microsoft protects, what is squarely on you, and the five gaps we find in almost every tenant we inherit.

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Close-up of perforated server cabinet doors with rows of green status lights
Managed IT 19 May 2026 6 min read

Backups are not a recovery plan

RTO, RPO, tested failover and a runbook someone other than its author can follow at 2am. The difference between having copies of your data and being able to get your business back.

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Hands typing on a laptop behind a translucent shield and padlock graphic
Cyber Security 09 May 2026 6 min read

You paid the ransom. Now you have 72 hours.

Since May 2025 Australian businesses turning over more than $3 million, and critical infrastructure responsible entities at any turnover, must report a ransomware payment to the ASD within 72 hours. What the obligation covers, what it does not, and why it belongs in your incident response plan rather than your legal team’s inbox.

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Colleagues in a meeting room discussing sketches pinned to the wall
Business & strategy 30 Apr 2026 6 min read

What managed IT actually costs in Australia, and what moves the number

Nobody publishes a straight answer, so here is how the pricing actually works, which variables move it most, and the questions to ask so you can compare two quotes properly.

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