With the release of Shared Custom Baselines, we’ve refreshed and expanded the inforcer baseline libraries to take advantage of the new sharing model and improved deployment workflows.

Our existing E8M1 and E8M2 inforcer best‑practice baselines have been updated to align with Shared Custom Baselines.
We’ve also introduced a new Maturity Level 3 (M3) version to support partners aiming for higher security posture and more advanced ACSC Essential Eight compliance.

Based on partner and customer feedback, several policies that previously caused user impact—especially around Mobile Application Management (MAM)—have been relocated into the M2 library, ensuring a more balanced and predictable rollout for E8M1+IBP customers.

We’ve added Autopatch-based policies which modernize Windows update management and replace classic Update Rings. This supports better compliance alignment and simplifies ongoing maintenance.

The Windows Defender Application Control XML has been refreshed to better reflect Essential Eight hardening requirements, ensuring alignment across all maturity levels.

Fast Startup is now disabled using a dedicated, deployable script—improving reliability and supporting scenarios where encryption, WDAC, or patch orchestration require clean boot behaviour.

The naming convention has been streamlined so that only Essential Eight (E8) policies use the E8 prefix, while inforcer best‑practice policies now use the IBP prefix for clear differentiation