Amplify Zero Trust with Automation

Skydivers use two parachutes. Homeowners have more than one lock on their doors. Stores have both security guards and cameras. You’ll often find the things we value the most are protected in multiple ways.

The same is true with Zero Trust and STIGs. The two work together to ensure the safety of government data and systems. But STIGs (or CIS or CMMC) take a lot of work to implement for already overextended cybersecurity teams.

The pairing of STIG automation and Zero Trust makes sense as agencies look for efficient ways to double lock the doors to their data.

Six ways Zero Trust and Automation Make Each Other Stronger

While it may not always feel this way, the goal of both Zero Trust and system hardening through STIG, CIS Benchmarks or CMMC controls and checklists is to simplify and make cybersecurity more manageable.

It takes a lot of work to implement Zero Trust and overcome the cultural resistance in your organization. But once it’s set up, the work is less cumbersome as you refine and mature your approach.

With STIGs it takes significant effort to create a secure baseline, then recreate it every time you add new devices or quarterly updates come through. It’s a lion you must constantly feed and tend to. Unless you automate. Then it becomes a purring kitty on your lap.

When STIG automation meets Zero Trust, however, a number of added benefits result:

1. Doubling Down on Security.

STIG compliance creates a secure baseline upon which to build Zero Trust. If Sam from Accounting is suitably compelled to click on that link in an email despite all the work you’ve done to convince him otherwise, the phishers won’t get very far because the system is locked down by the STIG work you’ve done.

Likewise, if Zero Trust is effectively implemented and everyone behaves as they should, bad actors won’t get far enough to even test your secure baseline.

2. Making Zero Trust Implementation More Feasible.

If your team is juggling the cybersecurity lion and Zero Trust implementation at the same time, it is unlikely either initiative will be as strong as it can be. We don’t need to tell you your people already have enough on their plate. Approaching cybersecurity compliance manually, the traditional way, takes the lion’s share of your effort.

STIG automation, however, lightens the load and frees you to focus on Zero Trust. It enables you to think ahead and strategize for the future. And it eliminates the kind of errors overworked and harried humans make in the STIG process. In short, STIG, CIS Benchmarks and CMMC automation, combined with Zero Trust, make you stronger and more available to get stronger still.

3. Automating to speed time-to-implementation for STIGs and Zero Trust.

Let’s say you’ve established your policy for how your controls will be implemented with STIGs, CIS Benchmarks or CMMC. Wouldn’t it be cool to just push a button to scan and remediate thousands of controls in, say, an hour? An afternoon? Or even in two days, compared to the weeks that are typical?

That’s what SteelCloud’s ConfigOS does every day, 24/7. We call it the “easy button.” And it has been proven to work as promised over a decade in government agencies.

What all this is leading to is that, if you are spending 70% less time and 90% less effort on compliance, that leaves more time and effort for Zero Trust. And with more available time and effort, everything gets done more quickly and more thoroughly.

4. Delivering 24/7 System Auditing Through STIG Automation and Zero Trust.

Automating STIGs enables 24/7 auditing of your system, helping you catch and contain breaches more quickly. When pairing this automation with Zero Trust, even if the system is breached, there’s only so far hackers can get before they’re identified and booted out.

With the two working together, valuable data, weapons systems, personally identifiable information and everything else you value are virtually impossible to access by outside sources.

5. Enabling Zero Trust as a Journey and Not a Destination.

Just as with STIG compliance, there is no such thing as being done with Zero Trust. You can only be done for today. STIGs have their updates. And Zero Trust will evolve over time.

Zero Trust requires ongoing evaluation and adjustment of security policies and practices. With the time and effort savings of STIG automation, Zero Trust is free to evolve. You’re more able to think beyond Zero Trust and STIGs to other security measures.

Hackers win when your attentions are divided and you’re in catch up mode. STIG Automation helps put you on the offensive in all your cybersecurity efforts.

6. Providing the Foundation for a Custom Approach to Zero Trust and Automation.

Even though STIGs and Zero Trust have structured foundations and pillars you can follow, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. You’ll create different STIG control policies than the next guy. And your approach to Zero Trust will conform to specific challenges you face.

Again, STIG automation frees up space to strategize these approaches and really tailor a solution that is right for your organization, your people, your technology and the threats you face.

Explore how automation can save time and keep you on your goals.

In a meeting of the minds at 2024’s TechNET Cyber, military CIOs discussed Zero Trust, the business process reengineering needed to implement it and the time constraints they face between now and their 2027 implementation deadlines.

Department of the Navy CIO, Jane Rathbun summed the reality up by saying, “Zero Trust is a set of principles that we should be living and breathing and operating against. It is a complete paradigm culture shift that is going to take a lot longer than 2027 to really live those principles.”

While you can’t automate Zero Trust, SteelCloud’s ConfigOS can address the time-consuming process of complying with the STIG, CIS Benchmarks and CMMC mandates you want to build Zero Trust upon. To learn more about Zero Trust and compliance automation, schedule a demo today.