Outpacing the Threat: Solving Big Challenges in STIG Automation + Adapting to Hybrid Workforce
Compliance Automation 2.0 is here.
In a world of increasingly sophisticated threats, good cyber hygiene is crucial. You need to achieve and maintain STIG compliance. Build secure baselines. Accelerate RMF. Integrate eMASS & Xacta. Keep track of your endpoints. And have a tight eye on your compliance operations. It’s a lot of balls to juggle and, if you drop one, it could have devastating consequences for our nation’s data.
Automation can do a lot of the work of compliance for you. A variety of tools are available, but do they fit your particular use case? Do they address the challenges of hybrid workforces with distributed endpoints? Do they support continuous, set-it-and-forget-it compliance? Are they a complete solution, purpose-built for your scenario? For many, a traditional solution works perfectly for their needs. But if you are tired of tracking down endpoints to secure because of a distributed workforce, there’s Compliance Automation 2.0.
The challenges of STIG compliance are many.
STIGs can “break” apps that aren’t designed to operate in a STIG environment, causing frustration and added work. There are thousands of controls to configure. It’s like herding cats to secure the endpoints of today’s hybrid and work from home population. And the process of compliance never ends, due to quarterly updates. Which, when done manually, strains personnel resources in the midst of a workforce shortage. Finally, from RMF and eMASS to CCRI, there are a lot of accreditations to earn to achieve good cyber hygiene.
It’s a LOT of work. A lot of good work that protects our nation. Which is why many government agencies use automation. Automating what you can means your people will have more time to address backlogs and critical programs moving forward.
Using the right automation tools helps significantly.
Automation reduces both the time and effort needed to achieve compliance and authority to operate. But its ability to do that is limited by how your needs are met by the solution’s features. Our list of must-haves includes:
- Consistent STIG scanning, implementation and remediation for servers and workstations
- Rollback for all remediations
- Ability to run in air-gapped or disconnected environments
- Includes network gear
- Supports A&A, remediation, reporting and CISO constituencies
- Integrates or replaces STIG Viewer
- SIEM integration with enterprise dashboard viewing
- ITSM support for ServiceNow
If a solution does all that, then it also has the added benefit of not being cobbled together from various tools that only have some of the features you want. You have a single solution that is purposely built that way.
The ability to support a hybrid workforce is Compliance Automation 2.0.
The next iteration of compliance automation includes the features listed above, but is tailored to the realities of many government networks. Endpoints may be scattered geographically. Or they might belong to work-from-home or hybrid workers whose computers may or may not be on when it’s time to scan them. To be able to automate that frustrating piece of the puzzle would be a huge convenience. And how about achieving true set-it-and-forget-it continuous compliance?
It’s not hypothetical. It’s SteelCloud’s ConfigOS MPO, a new and separate solution from the traditional ConfigOS Command Center that drives much of the DoD’s cybersecurity automation. Each solution specializes in STIG compliance, but MPO does it with a multi-tiered, database-driven architecture that solves the challenges of the remote or hybrid workplace and maintaining continuous compliance in real time. At scale.
Once implemented, ConfigOS MPO can scan and remediate your system in seconds, based on a schedule – never stopping for lunch or dinner—indefinitely—without human intervention. This keeps you constantly in compliance in real time. It is truly revolutionary. You owe it to yourself to at least experience its speed—it’s like the difference between the speeds of light and sound compared to other tools. Schedule a demo to see for yourself.
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