STIG Compliance and Why It Matters
What if you had a list of known system vulnerabilities that are frequently exploited by hackers? And not just a list, but 10,000 guidelines on how and where to fix those vulnerabilities so bad actors can’t get in?
Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs) are that list. Commercial hardware and software is built for the masses. And sometimes vulnerabilities are built in— a tradeoff in favor of greater functionality. Which is fine for the masses, who are unlikely to have services denied or data stolen or held for ransom.
But what if you’re in the Department of Defense (DoD), another government agency, a regulated industry or in sensitive areas of the government supply chain? That’s a lot of juicy data and access. And if bad actors want to hack into your server using these known vulnerabilities, they are adept at doing so.
To combat these risks, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) created STIGs for the DoD. STIGs provide a standardized and comprehensive way of hardening your system against known vulnerabilities, and they are updated quarterly with new and emerging risks.
STIGs are proven effective for securing our nation’s most sensitive data and capabilities. And, among the most sensitive agencies and industries, they are mandated. However, STIGs can be used by anyone to implement world-class cybersecurity across their systems, mandated or not.
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Why STIG Compliance Matters
When people talk about STIG compliance, they are often talking about complying with federal government cybersecurity mandates that require you to implement STIGs on your hardware, software and devices.
But sometimes people will say “compliance” even if it’s not mandated, in which case it means aligning with STIG standards.
Compliance serves you in the bigger picture by helping you:
- Pass Audits. Implementing the security controls in STIGs are often required to pass audits such as the Cyber Operations Rapid Assessment (CORA) and others.
- Reduce or Eliminate Breaches. STIGs are the most thorough, standardized way to keep the bad guys out. And if they do get in, STIGs can limit their ability to access your network further.
- Support Mission Continuity. STIGs protect you against breaches that can create denial of service and data theft, thereby protecting your mission.
- Achieve Other Mandates. STIGs are built around the requirements needed to comply with RMF, NIST, CMMC and other frameworks that may be mandated in your agency.
- Enable Zero Trust. Complying with STIG mandates provides the secure foundation needed to establish a Zero Trust framework. In many cases Zero Trust is also mandated in the federal government.
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Hardening Is Harder Than You Think
STIG compliance sounds easy enough, right? Just follow the instructions and you’re golden. But, of course, it’s not that easy. There are as many 10,000 STIG controls to implement. And that becomes even more of a challenge when applying them across multiple systems.
STIGs require a lot of time to implement, and the longer it takes, the longer it is before you can make new software, weapons and devices available to those who need it now. Because it’s a tedious, human process, it’s prone to error. And the frequent cadence of updates compounds these challenges and makes revisions difficult to track.
By far, the biggest challenge, however, is that applying STIGs across your systems requires a lot of skilled human effort, a commodity that is in short supply in the marketplace. It’s not something just any IT or cybersecurity person can do. And, frankly, at the level of skill that is needed, it’s hard to find anyone willing to do that kind of tedious, repetitive work.
The time and resource challenges of achieving STIG compliance often result in endless cycles of work that never achieve goals. And, if there are audits to pass, it’s difficult to produce the documentary artifacts needed for certification
How Automation Simplifies Compliance
As a result of the time and resources needed to comply, most will use tools to automate all or part of the process. Because there is a lot of repetition, automation is tailor-made for implementing STIGs. As the cyber world changes and attacks become even more sophisticated, automation is becoming necessary.
Here are some of the benefits of automation:
- Reduce Time and Costs. Automation pays for itself with the first use. You don’t need to hire expensive specialists—you can do it with the staff you already have and put a lower-level person in charge of driving the software. A full-scale automation solution can perform months of tedious work in an afternoon.
- Increase Accuracy and Consistency. With a full-scale automation solution, you can set policy once and have it repeated across systems and over time. No errors.
- Simplify Audit Prep. Once policy is set, the process is as easy as pushing a button or two to set STIG, RMF, NIST and other requirements in motion. Plus, full-scale automation solutions will automatically produce the documentation you need for your audits.
- Free Up Technical Teams. STIGs aren’t the only things required for a mature cybersecurity program. So the experts who you’d have working on STIGs can now address all that high-priority cybersecurity work that’s on your wish list, but you never quite get to. Better yet, a full-scale automation solution can be operated by low- to mid-level staff.
- Improve Security. Because of human error and time constraints, a manual approach will never reach the level of success and impenetrability that you can achieve with automation.
- Achieve Continuous Compliance. Automation can keep you continually compliant, a feat we have never seen achieved by manual means alone.
Why Make Compliance Harder Than It Needs To Be?
Using automation makes the entire process easier and lifts a huge, soul-crushing burden off the backs of your team. There are many tools in the marketplace that can help with one of more of the steps in the STIG process.
One solution is built from the ground up to cover every phase of the compliance process, ConfigOS. ConfigOS is the primary STIG automation solution used in the DoD and has more than a decade of successes behind it. It operates in any environment and is scalable to bring as many systems as you’ve got into compliance.
As you dive deeper into your cybersecurity and compliance journey, you’re going to need help if you want to achieve the level of security you hope for. If you’d like to see how automation can simplify and improve STIG compliance for you, you can get a free demo from SteelCloud.
Where Do STIGs Fit Into NIST Requirements?
Originally developed for the DoD, STIGs are based on NIST standards, but are more granular in their approach. The same is true about CIS Benchmarks. Both incorporate NIST standards, but go beyond with added security.
People who need to adhere to NIST standards can benefit from STIG and CIS Benchmarks compliance because solutions like ConfigOS can automate your entire NIST compliance and add extra layers of security you won’t achieve by manually implementing NIST standards alone.
While there are tools to help with NIST compliance, to fully automate the process you could benefit from “upgrading” to STIG or CIS Benchmarks, which both have full-scale, proven, end-to-end automation solutions available.
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