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6 Ways CIS Benchmarks Automation Delivers Immediate ROI

July 30, 2024

6 Ways CIS Benchmarks Automation Delivers Immediate ROI

By now, most state and local government and education (SLED) institutions are either considering or implementing CIS Benchmarks cybersecurity. It’s an objectively good choice. In fact, in more and more instances, CIS Benchmarks or the NIST 800-53 standards they are based on are mandated for the sector.

The Center for Internet Security (CIS) is a nonprofit that has accumulated all the cybersecurity best practices from around the world and distilled them into a prescriptive roadmap of more than 100 configuration strategies based on known vulnerabilities. They show you where to look and how to harden around those places where hackers like to play.

CIS has been around for 20 years. They know every move bad actors make—and are going to make—and their Benchmarks are specifically designed to put bad actors out of commission. There’s just one thing. They require extra manpower, time, effort and patience to implement. Automation, however, eliminates that part of the equation. And the only automation solution CIS recommends is SteelCloud’s ConfigOS.

Check out all the ways CIS Benchmarks automation delivers a fast and continuous ROI.

According to Statista, the average cost of a data breach in the US $9.48M. IBM reports the average time to identify and contain a breach globally is 277 days. And that’s before you calculate the costs to your reputation and customer experience, not to mention the time it takes to bounce back from that. Implementing CIS Benchmarks with automation can zero out those numbers, providing immediate and sustainable ROI for your FY ’25 budget. Here are 6 ways how.

  1. Save manpower and effort.

Only CIS Benchmarks automation will enable you to implement a mature cybersecurity solution with the staff you have on hand. Doing it manually means hiring a whole team of hard-to-find mid-to-high level cybersecurity experts at rates upwards of $150K/head. And they will still do it slower and with more mistakes than automation. Automation eliminates the year-over-year costs of staffing up—critical when there’s a serious workforce shortage occurring. And, bonus, ConfigOS can be managed by anyone currently on your team, while saving 90% of the effort it takes to implement CIS Benchmarks.

  1. Shorten timelines and meet deadlines.

Implementing CIS Benchmarks manually can take weeks and months. Updates could take weeks to implement. Automate that process and the bulk of the work is done in an afternoon. Which means your new apps and system updates are available sooner, speeding your ROI in those investments. In addition, humans have their own ways of working and speed of doing things. Automation eliminates those variations in effort, reducing overall costs, time to implement and consistency throughout. Automation also ensures you’ll deliver your projects on time and within budget.

  1. Avoid the costs of breaches.

As stated earlier, IBM indicates that the average time to identify and contain a breach is 277 days. And every day on that timeline costs money, creates further damage and impacts your reputation. With AI, the world of hackers is expanding. No solution can absolutely guarantee there will never be a breach. But CIS Benchmarks can reduce your chances significantly. Think of it this way, car thieves look for unlocked car doors first, in hopes of finding an easy mark. Make sure you’re not an easy mark for their $9.48M payday.

  1. Eliminate errors.

Automation can’t hug you or keep you company at lunch. But it improves on humanity in the sense that it never makes a mistake. It does what you tell it to do. Every. Single. Time. IBM estimates that human error contributes, in part, to 95% of breaches. Eliminating errors in your implementation process, alone, not only avoids the costs of a breach, but it also pays big in system availability, customer experience, reputation management and the time it takes to review and correct your work.

  1. Reduce mental health issues.

Burnout and mental health issues are cybersecurity’s hidden secret. As many as 59% of cybersecurity professionals report feeling burned out. 54% say the constant threat of ransomware was the reason behind their deteriorating mental health. The truth is, a lot is riding on your shoulders. A day of trying to detect breaches feels like dodging bullets. And an actual breach can feel career-ending. These kinds of stresses lead to missed days at work, errors and a revolving door of cybersecurity experts, all of which cost you money. Automating the process by letting a machine do all the scanning and remediation—with zero errors—can cut incalculable costs.

  1. Meet or exceed expectations.

We’ve learned that good CIOs and CISOs are very skeptical and untrusting of pretty much everything, as is the nature of their job. Gartner interviewed them and reports that cybersecurity compliance solutions such as CIS Benchmarks and automation, consistently meet or exceed expectations among this group. One cost-free demo will show you why.

SLED

Demo the affordable cybersecurity solution you can’t afford to pass up.

Cybersecurity automation is a solution you can afford, even on limited budgets. And, frankly, it’s a solution nobody can afford to pass up. There is a cyberattack every 39 seconds, resulting in 2200 attacks a day. Some breaches are there for months before they are found.

CIS Benchmarks tell you what holes to plug and how. And ConfigOS implements them, scanning and remediating your system in about an hour. It works 24/7/365 and never complains or takes a bathroom break. And compliance automation not only makes breaches less likely, but it also detects them before more damage can happen. It sounds too good to be true, we know. So give us a chance to prove it to you. Schedule a free demo and see how easy it can be to ruin a hacker’s day.

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