Configuration Settings
Description
Establish and enforce security configuration settings for IT products and systems.
⚠️ Risk Impact
Misconfigured systems are the primary source of cloud security vulnerabilities.
🔧 Remediation
Enforce CIS benchmarks using automated scanning. EchelonGraph runs 440+ misconfiguration rules continuously.
💀 Real-World Attack Scenario
A government cloud environment had no configuration baseline enforcement. Over 18 months, configuration drift introduced 340 misconfigurations including public S3 buckets, open security groups, and unencrypted databases. An attacker exploited the most critical misconfiguration — a public RDS instance — to access citizen tax records.
💰 Cost of Non-Compliance
Configuration drift causes 65% of cloud security incidents in government. Average government data breach cost: $5.8M. CM-6 POA&M items are among the most common and most critical FISMA findings.
📋 Audit Questions
- 1.What configuration baselines are established for each system type?
- 2.How is configuration drift detected?
- 3.Show evidence of automated configuration scanning.
- 4.How frequently are configuration assessments performed?
🎯 MITRE ATT&CK Mapping
⚡ Common Pitfalls
- ⛔Configuration baselines documented but not automated for enforcement
- ⛔Manual configuration assessments performed annually instead of continuously
- ⛔Not baselining cloud-native services (Lambda, Cloud Run, etc.)
📈 Business Value
Continuous configuration scanning eliminates the #1 source of cloud vulnerabilities. It transforms security from periodic assessment to continuous assurance — the foundation of modern security operations.
⏱️ Effort Estimate
40-80 hours for initial baseline documentation; ongoing quarterly reviews
EchelonGraph runs 440+ rules continuously and alerts on configuration drift
🔗 Cross-Framework References
Automate NIST 800-53 CM-6 compliance
EchelonGraph continuously monitors this control across all your cloud accounts.
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