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Configure Microsoft Office Macro Settings​ OLD

Configure Microsoft Office Macro Settings

What are Microsoft Office Macros and how do they work?

Macro malware hides in Microsoft Office files. Any Microsoft document can contain embedded code (Macros) written in Microsoft’s Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) programming language. These Macros can contain a series of commands that can be recorded and replayed at a later time. Macros are a legitimate functionality in Microsoft documents and are very useful. However, Macros can also be used to perform malicious activities.

Bad actors use Microsoft files with embedded Macros as part of phishing emails targeting users within an organisation. When a user opens the file, the Macro executes, performing malicious activity. This technique is one of the most prolific ways of compromising an organisation’s network and has a very high success rate.

It is difficult for anti-virus software to determine which Macros are malicious; as the software may be behaving as designed.

Introspectus Assessor Microsoft Office Macros
Introspectus Assessor Microsoft Office Macros

Why are Microsoft Office Macros important?

The purpose of Application Control is to create multiple layers of security to make it increasingly difficult for bad actors to run malicious code in a target organisation. If one layer is breached, multiple security measures remain to protect the organisation’s computer systems.

Traditional Antivirus software cannot block applications when they encounter new, unknown malware, especially in cases where an organisation is being targeted by a sophisticated bad actor.

Application Control protects against unknown malware by only allowing known and trusted applications and scripts to run within the organisation.

0 %
of ransomware attacks against organisations start with phishing attempts – Verizon Data breach Report, 2021.
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of malware delivery mechanisms is made up of malicious macros in Microsoft Office documents – Cofense study, 2018.
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The average cost of a ransomware recovery – Sophos

Introspectus Key Features

What's the solution?

Introspectus analyses the Microsoft Office settings which have been applied in an organisation to determine whether Macro settings have been deployed in keeping with the recommended configurations outlined by ACSC.

Introspectus software generates reports on Macro settings that confirm whether:

  • Microsoft Office Macro settings are effective.
  • Microsoft Office Macro settings have been deployed to all endpoints.
  • Legacy versions of Microsoft Office are installed.
Introspectus Assessor Microsoft Office Macros Reports

Automated Daily Tests

Introspectus performs a complete audit of Macros settings every day to provide organisations with confidence that their Macro settings are effective.

Device Audit Report

Introspectus confirms that the Microsoft Office software on devices is current.

Real-Time Reporting

Introspectus lets organisations confidently report to their management/board that techniques are in place to manage risks related to Macros on all devices.

How Introspectus Helps

Each agent compares the current patch list against what is actually installed on its device. Any gap between what has been released and what is deployed is immediately surfaced. Critically, Introspectus pays particular attention to the timing of patch deployment not just whether a patch is present, but when it was applied.

This temporal dimension is central to Essential Eight compliance, where the difference between a patch applied on day two versus day thirty can mean the difference between maturity levels, and between an environment that was protected and one that was exposed.

This combination of daily patch intelligence, severity-based filtering, agent-level validation, and deployment timing analysis gives organisations a real-time, evidence-based view of their operating system patch posture mapped directly to the ISM controls applicable to the Essential Eight patch operating systems strategy.

The Challenge with Patch Operating Systems

The visibility gap here is particularly consequential. A patch may be approved and scheduled, yet never successfully applied due to a failed deployment, a device that was offline during the maintenance window, a reboot that was deferred, or a system that exists outside managed channels entirely.

Organisations that rely solely on deployment tooling to confirm patch status are measuring intent, not reality. The ACSC is explicit on this point: organisations need to confirm patches have been applied successfully, not merely that they were dispatched.

Patch Operating Systems Overview

Within the Essential Eight framework, patching operating systems is a core and non-negotiable control. The ACSC sets clear expectations: patches for internet-facing infrastructure must be applied within 48 hours when identified as critical or where working exploits exist, and within two weeks for standard releases.

Patches for workstations, servers, and network devices must be applied within one month, with tighter timeframes applying in high-threat environments. Critically, the ACSC also mandates that vulnerability scanning occurs at least daily for internet-facing systems and at least fortnightly for workstations and non-internet-facing infrastructure not to replace patching, but to confirm it has actually occurred.

How Introspectus Works

From this inventory, Introspectus performs targeted web intelligence gathering. For each application identified, the platform locates the top five authoritative sources of patch and release information vendor security advisories, release notes, and vulnerability databases and retrieves that content into a central repository.

Aletheia, Introspectus’s AI analysis agent, then reads and analyses this content to extract the intelligence that matters for application patching: the latest available version, whether a release addresses a security vulnerability, the severity of that vulnerability, and all information relevant to the Essential Eight application patching requirements. This structured intelligence is mapped directly to the applicable ISM controls, producing defensible, audit-ready evidence of an organisation’s application patch compliance posture.

The Challenge with Patch Applications

A critical and frequently overlooked problem is the visibility gap. Organisations may believe their applications are current when, in reality, patches have silently failed, devices have missed deployment windows, or software has been installed outside of managed channels entirely.

Without continuous inspection at the endpoint level, these gaps go undetected until an audit or, worse, a breach.

Patch Applications Overview

Within the Essential Eight standard, patching applications is a dedicated and non-negotiable control. The ACSC specifies clear timeframes: critical vulnerabilities in internet-facing services must be addressed within 48 hours, commonly used applications such as office productivity suites, web browsers, email clients and PDF software must be patched within two weeks of release, and all other applications within one month.

For organisations in high-threat environments, the bar is higher still. Meeting these requirements consistently across hundreds of distinct applications deployed across thousands of endpoints is not achievable through manual effort alone.