Implementing STIG Through SanerNow

Organizations, regardless of their industry, rely heavily on information technology to operate efficiently and securely. Ensuring the integrity and confidentiality of data and the reliability of IT systems is of utmost importance. While safeguarding an organization against vulnerabilities/other risks may seem straightforward, the implementation is far from simple.

According to our third quarter report, there were 6944 vulnerabilities discovered and there were 17 zero-days. Vulnerabilities needing immediate attention have increased making it even more difficult to safeguard IT infrastructure.

There are many security compliance benchmarks released that would keep your IT infrastructure safe, but often these benchmarks are not mandated may it be NIST, PCI-DSS, CIS or SOC. One such security adherence is the Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG).

What is STIG?

STIG stands for "Security Technical Implementation Guide." It is a set of guidelines and best practices developed by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and other organizations to secure computer systems and software. STIGs provide detailed recommendations for configuring and maintaining various types of information technology (IT) products and systems to ensure they meet specific security requirements and standards.

STIGs cover a wide range of IT components, including operating systems, network devices, databases, web servers, and more. They are designed to help organizations reduce security vulnerabilities and ensure that their systems are compliant with security policies and regulations.

Organizations that handle sensitive information, particularly those in government, defense, and other security-sensitive sectors, often use STIGs to harden and secure their IT infrastructure. Compliance with STIGs can be a requirement for obtaining and maintaining contracts with the U.S. government and its agencies.

Let’s dive in and look at other factors on why implementing STIG on organizations would be accurate.

Why Does an Organization Need STIGs?

1. Regulatory Requirements: There are many government agencies as well as organizations that would need STIG compliance as a mandate to have contracts with them or for doing business. Failing to meet these requirements may result in the loss of contracts, business opportunities, and funding.

2. Data Security: STIGs are designed to enhance the security of IT infrastructure of organizations. Compliance with STIGs helps protect sensitive and classified data, reducing the risk of data breaches, cyberattacks, and unauthorized access.

3. Risk Mitigation: Non-compliance with STIGs can expose an organization to significant cybersecurity risks. By following STIG recommendations, organizations can reduce vulnerabilities and the potential for security incidents, ultimately reducing risk and associated costs.

4. Reputation and Trust: Demonstrating STIG compliance will only enhance an organization's reputation and increase trust in customers, partners, and stakeholders. It signals a commitment to cybersecurity and responsibility to keep the data safe.

5. Competitive Advantage: STIG compliance can give an organization a competitive advantage when bidding for government contracts or when customers prioritize security and data protection. It can be a selling point that sets an organization apart from competitors.

6. Cost Savings: Implementing STIGs may involve upfront costs and effort, the long-term benefits include potential cost savings from reduced security incidents, lower maintenance costs, and decreased downtime associated with security issues.

Requirements of STIG Benchmark

The total number of Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) benchmarks is extensive and has continually evolving repository as new technologies emerge and existing ones are updated. Here are some common types of requirements that organization should follow to be STIG compliance:

a.Authentication and Access Control: Requirements related to user authentication mechanisms e.g.: single sign-on, two-factor authentication and more. Configurations for access controls, including permissions granted to each individual employee.

b.Network Security: Have guidelines for configuring firewalls, routers, and switches. Secure configurations for network services and protocols.

c.Operating System Security: All the operating systems present in organization need to be secured may it be Windows, Linux, macOS or other OSs.

d.Database Security: Configurations and guidelines for securing database (e.g., Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server) user access, encryption, and auditing needs to set-up.

e.Web Server Security: Secure configurations for your organization’s web servers (e.g., Apache, Microsoft IIS), implement SSL/TLS and look after the authentication needed.

f.Cloud Security: If there are any cloud providers your organization rely on such as AWS, Azure. Have a list of guidelines that need to be adhere on.

g.Application Security: As important securing operating system is, it’s equally important you need to secure all the applications present.

h.Security Policies and Documentation: Have a document stating the requirements for maintaining security policies and guidelines for auditing and monitoring security configurations.

Keep in mind that specific STIG requirements will vary based on the type of system or technology being addressed.

Saner X STIG

Saner, a Continous Vulnerability and Exposure Management platform, gives organizations end-to-end security and keeps them protected and a step ahead of all cyberattacks. It consists of seven different tools all under one console, from having an inventory of all the assets present in your organization to detecting vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, anomalies, and other security risks and finally remediating all of them instantly.

Let’s understand how SanerNow can help in achieving STIG compliance in a few quick steps

Step 1: Once the SanerNow agent is installed in your organization's assets, it gives you a detailed overview of vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, anomalies, hygiene score, prioritization status, and compliance status. There is also the option of having an agentless scanner.

Step 2: Asset Exposure module gives you a detailed overview of the assets present in the IT network and also allows you to blacklist, whitelist, and also have control over the outdated and rarely used applications.

Step 3: Once you have the information about the assets, open the vulnerability management dashboard and get to know about the vulnerabilities, their presence in the devices, criticality, exploitability to high-fidelity attacks, and more.

Step 4: It's not enough just to detect vulnerabilities and misconfigurations! Through SanerNow's continuous posture anomaly management, you can detect the anomaly details categorized based on group and family.

Step 5: Once all the security risks are detected, it's time to remediate them. SanerNow integrated Patch management helps in instantly remediating these risks and is completely automated.

Step 6: SanerNow Endpoint Management module provides additional support for endpoints and network.

Step 7: To be STIG compliant, open the compliance management dashboard, which shows the overview of the misconfiguration detected, remediation recommendation, deviant assets and more.

Step 8: To apply STIG compliant, click on the benchmarks option and choose to create a new benchmark. SanerNow supports various benchmarks including NIST 800-53, NIST 800-171, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, NIST-CSF and general compliance.

Step 9: Next, click on the compliance you need to apply and click on edit benchmark. This gives information about rules, configuration and other customization.

Step 10: Once the customization is done, you can choose the benchmark and scroll down to apply them. You will find a button saying to apply selected benchmark to devices; enter the benchmark name and the device you would need to apply it on.

Step 11: Once the setup is finalized, the SanerNow agent scans the IT network and gives the devices and rules that are non-compliant, configuration drift, and the misconfigurations detected. To fix these misconfigurations, choose that option and select the misconfiguration you want to remediate, and click on apply selected misconfigurations.

Step 12: You will be prompted with the box where you would need to fill in the information, and it can also be customized based on your preference.

Automating STIG Compliance

Saner can achieve STIG compliance and also automate the entire process to ensure any new misconfigurations or configuration drifts are immediately addressed.

1.Clicking on the Automation button allows you to select the devices you wish to enforce automation to. But it is recommended to select all the devices and not miss out on anything else.

By clicking on Create Automation Rule, you can select and customize the severity of the misconfigurations to fix as well. Once selected, you can customize the automation rule with reboot control, notifications, and remediation scripts. Further, you can also customize how often the fixes must be applied, be it daily, weekly, or monthly.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs) play a pivotal role in fortifying the security posture of organizations by providing detailed guidelines and requirements. By adhering to STIG recommendations, organizations can systematically implement robust security controls, mitigate vulnerabilities, and bolster their defenses against potential cyber threats.

As the threat landscape continues to evolve, the importance of STIGs persists as a proactive and adaptive approach to cybersecurity. Regularly updating and applying STIGs to diverse systems, ranging from operating systems to databases and cloud services, enables organizations to stay ahead of potential risks and align with the latest security best practices.