Customer Case Study - Established Defence Supplier, DISP

(Client Confidential)

This case study describes a confidential Cyber Wyze engagement.

The client’s identity, location, sector specifics, and commercial detail are withheld under contractual confidentiality. The undertaking, methodology, recommendations, and outcomes described reflect what Cyber Wyze delivered. 

Redacted Case Study, client identity withheld under contractual confidentiality

The Client: Confidential

The client is a long established Australian sovereign engineering and manufacturing business with decades of continuous delivery under its current brand. It operates across Defence sustainment, industrial supply and high trust commercial supply chains, with a storied reputation for high quality precision manufacturing and engineering discipline. The business maintains deep, long standing customer relationships, including growing exposure to Defence related sustainment, manufacturing and prime contractor supply chain activities.

 

The Challenge: Commercial Risk, Prime Contractor Cyber Security Obligations and DISP Membership Requirements

Commercial delivery capability had outpaced technology and cyber security maturity. Established primes were now issuing structured cyber questionnaires, Defence Industry Security Program (DISP) has moved to full Essential Eight ML2, and AUKUS and CMMC pressures were arriving on a compressed horizon.

Key challenges included:

  • Potential lock out from Defence supply chains under supplier assurance scrutiny
  • Legacy systems and long standing MSP arrangements not aligned to Defence adjacent requirements
  • Board level requirement for a defensible current state position before authorising broader investment
  • Reputation at risk if a prime audit exposed the gap

The client engaged Cyber Wyze to establish line of sight, expose previously opaque risks, and inform a board supported forward strategy. 

The Approach

Cyber Wyze delivered a facilitated strategic cyber workshop and current state assessment, backed by a detailed strategic summary and prioritised recommendations.
  • Strategic Workshop and Facilitation
  • Current State Assessment
  • Alignment Review against DISP, Essential Eight ML2, and CMMC
  • Digital Supply Chain and Third Party Risk Assessment
  • Prioritised Strategic Recommendations
  • Clear Commercial Rationale and ROI Clarity

The Outcome

Having established a confirmed operating posture, and a defensible DISP alignment pathway, a resilient forward strategy backed by board level investment was adopted.
  • Confirmed Current Operating Posture
  • Defensible DISP ML2 Roadmap
  • Confident Board Investment Case
  • Secure Forward Strategy Locked
  • CMMC Alignment Pathway Established
  • Resilient Managed Secure Operations

From: Our Team

Why This Approach?

“Established Defence industry suppliers often carry decades of operating heritage, long term commercial credibility, and deep customer trust. What they are less likely to maintain is a cyber security operating model that has evolved at the same pace as the compliance environment now placed around them. The value of a strategic workshop in this context is not another audit. It is line of sight, exposure of the risks leadership does not yet see, and a defensible forward strategy the board can act on with confidence. That is what we delivered here, and that is what turns cyber security from an IT hygiene concern into a governed and scalable secure business function.”

Mario Zuppini – Cyber Director at Cyber Wyze

What Was Delivered?

What Was Delivered

The engagement covered the full lifecycle from strategic workshop through to defensible forward strategy and ongoing managed operations.

  • Facilitated leadership workshop and structured decision support
  • Current state assessment across identity, information, assurance, and resilience
  • Written strategic summary and findings pack
  • DISP, Essential Eight ML2, and CMMC alignment review and uplift
  • Prioritised strategic recommendations across ten uplift domains
  • Board ready commercial rationale for investment approval
  • Transition into ongoing Cyber Wyze Managed IT and Cyber Security Services partnership

The output was not a report. It was an embedded capability aligned to Defence requirements, sustained through an ongoing operating model.

Why this Approach Worked?

The engagement worked because it aligned Cyber Wyze capability with the client’s real operating environment, integrated cyber security into how the business actually runs, and delivered the confidence leadership needed to act.

Alignment. Cyber Wyze framed cyber security as a governed business function tied to commercial obligation, not a technical exercise. The strategic workshop aligned board, executive, and operating teams around a single view of current state and forward direction, so decisions moved forward without competing interpretations.

Integration. Rather than deliver a standalone report, Cyber Wyze integrated the strategic assessment with the client’s ERP direction, PLM decisions, identity architecture, and existing MSP arrangements. Findings and recommendations connected to real operating constraints, not generic compliance frameworks. The forward strategy fit inside how the business was already investing and operating.

Confidence. Defence adjacent operator experience, evidence based findings, and a defensible board investment case gave leadership confidence to act. The client moved from assumption to evidence, from uncertainty to line of sight, and from technology decisions to business capability. That confidence is what turned a strategic workshop into an ongoing partnership.

The Outcome

Line of Sight Established The client moved from assumed cyber posture to a confirmed, evidence based operating position, with board, executive, and operating teams sharing the same understanding of current state and forward direction.

Defensible DISP and Essential Eight ML2 Roadmap A prioritised uplift roadmap covering all Essential Eight ML2 controls, DISP alignment, and evidence generation, sequenced against operating constraints and cash flow.

Confident Board Investment Case A defensible commercial rationale linking cyber investment to prime contractor obligation, insurance renewal readiness, and AUKUS aligned opportunity. Board approved investment sequenced against real commercial return.

Secure Forward Strategy A structured strategic plan covering identity modernisation, information governance, Data Loss Prevention, AI governance, business continuity, and role based access control, aligned to Defence adjacent expectations.

CMMC Alignment Pathway An integrated CMMC readiness pathway aligned to NIST SP 800-171 expectations, positioning the client to respond credibly to future US prime cyber questionnaires and AUKUS aligned supply chain assurance.

Resilient Managed Secure Operations Ongoing Managed IT and Cyber Security Services in partnership with Cyber Wyze sustaining Essential Eight ML2 operating standards, delivering board level cyber visibility, and demonstrable evidence suitable for prime, insurer, and Defence assurance scrutiny.

Secure Operating Model: Managed IT and Secure Operations by Cyber Wyze

Beyond the defined uplift, Cyber Wyze became the client’s ongoing Managed IT and Cyber Security Services partner. The operating model sustains secure operations aligned to Essential Eight ML2, delivers compliance with prime contractor and Defence contract cyber requirements, and provides board level visibility of cyber security as a business function.

The operating model also delivers progressive data classification uplift into a full Data Loss Prevention strategy, identity modernisation from legacy on premises to cloud primary identity, AI governance and controlled adoption, and evidence generation suitable for prime supplier assurance, cyber insurance renewal, and CMMC pathway progression.