How to get started with DISA STIG

Runecast Academy Series 2 – Part 6. What is DISA and the STIGs?

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) is a support agency that is part of the US Department of Defense (DoD). It focuses on maintaining the IT services and infrastructure of the Department of Defense network (DoDIN). As it is mandatory for all organizations who work with sensitive data to operate in a secure network and infrastructure environment, the DoD relies on DISA to provide a secure and resilient network against cybersecurity threats and other possible risks. 

Federal agencies, or other organizations that process sensitive information and are subject to data breach or loss of service, know that a secure environment is a must, otherwise they could be dealing with huge security risks. The default configurations provided by vendors are more user friendly than security friendly, as a result, strengthening the DoD network or other high-risk data organizations and mitigating vulnerabilities in software and networks should be a high priority. This security is acquired by maintaining infrastructure and network security, and strengthening cybersecurity measures. In order for organizations to know what they should exactly do to swim in safe waters, DISA created STIGs to lead them towards a secure environment. 

Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs) are a set of standards DISA created in order to protect the DoD network and infrastructure from cybersecurity threats and malicious attacks. They outline how to achieve security in your infrastructure and networks, providing configuration guidance for network devices, software, databases and operating systems with regard to lowering the risk of cybersecurity threats, breaches and intrusion. The guides prescribed in STIGs standard seal off devices and software from possible outside influence and vulnerabilities. They are available for a variety of information systems including hardware, enterprise software, applications, and network appliances. Not only do they cover product and software security but whole architecture systems and configuration of multiple networks. 

DISA STIG Compliance

All organizations that connect to the DoD network must be STIG compliant. This applies to defense agencies, defense contractors that connect to DoD systems, and any other federal agencies. Any corporations or structures that deal with highly sensitive data, the loss and breach of which could cause great damage to their interests, are recommended to be STIG-compliant. They can implement the STIG  guidelines in their infrastructure in order to secure their information systems and any software that might be subject to being compromised. If you are non-compliant or your compliance is compromised, organizations can lose access and authorization to operate inside DoD networks. Other organizations can lose sensitive information and suffer reputational and financial loss. 

Challenges to DISA STIG Compliance

Time-Consuming

We feel the pain of security, system and network administrators who are switching from their daily tasks to the overwhelming job of manually configuring their IT assets according to STIG guides. Considering the fact that there have been hundreds of STIGs released to date we know the hard work that awaits you.

Lack of IT Resources

Not only is this process time-consuming and tiresome, but it requires more people to be involved in scanning and remediating systems and then preparing regular reports for security audits.  

Frequent Audits 

Staying compliant with DISA STIG means that you have to regularly check and implement STIG rules, but also prepare reports at the same rate for audits. 

Never-ending updates

STIGs are also designed for specific versions of devices, operating systems and software therefore unique vulnerabilities may need to be considered with each iteration. 

Different IT Environments 

Most companies today work in hybrid or multi-cloud environments, which makes it even more difficult to check them manually as each environment is patched by a different STIG control, and some of them even require more than one. 

Runecast

Real-time Security Analysis and Reports 

Runecast has a simple and quick solution for you and provides you with a straightforward fix which will lift all your burden.

Whether you are short on IT resources, use different IT systems, or even if you are tired from preparing reports frequently, Runecast has the solution for you.

Runecast scans your specific configuration and provides Best Practices, fit-gap analysis reports and security hardening checks in real-time. These automated scans remove manual work and ensure optimal operation of your environment. It is easy to filter and sort issues, compare historical configuration, and remediate with simple actions. Furthermore, it helps mitigate security vulnerabilities such as Spectre, Meltdown, L1TF and more.

Runecast has over 400 checks for DISA STIG pre-loaded in the appliance. This means you can see, in seconds, how close you are to DISA STIG compliance.  

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Runecast does all the hard work for you in a short time. It automates your vulnerability management and security standards compliance audits for AWS, Azure, Kubernetes and VMware, as well as for Windows and Linux OS. It proactively assists with Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM), Kubernetes Security Posture Management (KSPM), and Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (GRC). It provides continuous audits against other common security standards such as CIS Benchmarks, NIST, HIPAA, PCI DSS, BSI IT-Grundschutz, ISO 27001, GDPR, Cyber Essentials (UK), Essential 8 (Australia), and the CISA KEVs catalog.

Summary

Compliance with the DISA STIG standard is a vital step if you want to work with US Government contracts. Getting and staying compliant is an arduous task that can take weeks and months of painful manual work. Or it can take a matter of minutes.

Runecast gives you the chance to speed up your DISA STIG journey, by quickly evaluating your current state and showing you exactly what you need to do to become compliant. 

It comes up with an automated real-time security analysis and reports. It even provides you suggestions (best practices) to improve your performance, security and availability. In addition, Runecast not only offers you these automated security standard compliance analysis but also vulnerability management, remediation scripts, configuration drift management, hardware compatibility and vSphere upgrade stimulation.