A Quick Guide To Continuous Security Monitoring

According to recent statistics, 60% of the world’s corporate data is stored in the cloud. And 39% of businesses experienced cloud data breaches in the previous year. This suggests that there will always be an element of risk associated with data stored on the cloud. Hence, to safeguard your data from such cyber threats, organizations are looking for measures that can help them strengthen their security and gain compliance. 

The consequence of non-compliance goes beyond monetary penalties. Such instances can damage brand reputation, cause financial losses, and come with legal repercussions. Hence, compliance is not just about meeting the regulatory requirements. It is also about safeguarding the data integrity an organization holds.     

This realization has been the gateway of new processes such as Continuous Security Monitoring (CSM) – A proactive approach that offers greater visibility into your information security systems and controls, bolsters security, and ensures adherence to best practices, thereby helping organizations navigate the complex compliance landscape enabling continuous security assurance.

This blog is a quick guide to continuous security monitoring and explores why it is vital in maintaining your cybersecurity posture.

What is continuous security monitoring?

Continuous Security Monitoring (CSM) is a proactive security management approach that helps tackle vulnerabilities, monitor security controls, and continually assess the risk landscape to strengthen an organization’s cyber defense mechanism. It also assists the Security Operations Center create and implement risk mitigation strategies.

CSM creates greater awareness and visibility into your IT infrastructure and information security systems, enabling a proactive approach to threat detection and security risks.  It enables you to detect breaches in real-time, and send alerts to the Security Incident and Event Management (SIEM) system when incidents occur.

How does continuous security monitoring work?

A CSM solution integrates with your data system, allowing you to monitor security controls and generate real-time reports to gain a holistic view of your security posture.

CSM continuously analyzes systems for anomalies in security controls, identifies vulnerabilities, identifies signs of a potential data breach and inadequate security measures or misconfigurations using intrusion detection mechanisms. It then gathers data about the findings and reports them. 

In general, a CSM process implements a data-driven approach to help the SOC (Security Operations Center) as follows:

• Access security controls and maintain awareness of all networks, systems, and servers across the organization and across the vendor ecosystem
• Collect and analyze security-related information and maintain an understanding of threats and threat activities
• Integrate information security and risk management frameworks and effectively manage them
• Perform automated vulnerability scanning, collect information across the ecosystem, and utilize that information to optimize security controls

It’s important to note that CSM processes should be routinely reviewed for relevance and should be revised periodically to stay on top of the regulatory requirements.

How to implement continuous security monitoring

Implementing CSM is a crucial step in continuous monitoring of information security and safeguarding your organization from cyber threats and vulnerabilities. 

Here are some simplified steps that can help you get started with the implementation process: 

1. Identify and define your digital assets

To start implementing CSM into your processes, you need to first define the specific processes that involve critical data or assets. These are processes that deal with sensitive information such as HR onboarding, IT onboarding, or access management. Identifying and categorizing these processes based on criticality will help you better adopt a risk-based approach to security.

2. Choose your process and tools

The next step is to choose the right tools and processes for your strategy. There are a number of tools available for CSM. Choose a tool that covers a larger threat surface and performs functions like vulnerability scanning, malware detection, and real-time threat analysis.
 

Implementing a compliance automation solution like Sprinto can help you streamline your compliance program by aligning your internal controls with framework requirements, enabling real-time control monitoring, and automating compliance tasks to get you audit-ready in no time. See demo. 

3. Enable processes for continuous evaluation

Continuously monitoring all your endpoints is critical to protect your data from being compromised by cyber attacks. However, implementing security measures for addressing insider threats is also an important aspect of CSM. To do so, set up protocols for how your employees should engage with the data. This creates a systemic process in identifying unusual activities and potential threats and helps you create a proactive stance against potential security risks.

4. Schedule regular updates and monitor third parties

Another critical step in CSM implementation is scheduling and regularly updating your policies. With evolving cyber threats, compliance requirements also change. Hence, you need to ensure that your organization’s policies align with the overall security standards and are reviewed and updated as necessary.

Also, ensure that your application systems and software are up to date. While software updates ensure that applications are up to date, the security patches within these updates strengthen your security and close loopholes.

Another important element is establishing policies and protocols for third parties that access your network. It is critical to monitor your third-party service providers and processors using CSM. 

5. Employee training

Having sophisticated tools and technologies isn’t enough for this evolving cybersecurity landscape. Implementing security measures begins with people involved in the first line of defense—Employees. Hence, conducting regular employee training and keeping the workforce informed about threats, policies, and their roles as custodians of organizational security is a significant security measure.

Employee training serves two vital purposes within an organization—1. It ensures employees are aware of and effectively implement all necessary policies in place. And 2. It defines their role in the larger scheme of security and designates responsibilities during specific real-world situations.

Benefits of continuous security monitoring

Businesses today are adopting CSM solutions because of their robust cybersecurity strategy that safeguards them from potential threats. There are numerous benefits associated with CSM. We have listed a few: 

Threat detection: Continuous security monitoring allows organizations to detect cyber threats and vulnerabilities. This can be achieved using tools and technologies that help security teams conduct risk assessments and detect unusual activity. These tools perform real-time and send notifications when needed.

Effective risk management and remediation: Continuous security monitoring helps organizations identify and prioritize security issues and other potential threats. This allows you to plan your remediation efforts. It also enables you to be notified of risk immediately after being discovered, thereby helping you manage your cybersecurity defense effectively. 

Ensures compliance: Continuous security monitoring is a mandate under compliance frameworks such as ISO 27001, SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI DSS, NIST, and GDPR. By integrating CSM continuously into your processes, organizations can ensure that they are continuously meeting the desired security standards.  

Elevate your game with Sprinto: Sprinto seamlessly automates your desired security frameworks and aligns your systems with different compliance requirements.

Check out How NitroPack fast-tracked compliance with Sprinto

Improves visibility: For any organization, it is important to understand your digital ecosystem. CSM provides enhanced visibility into your IT environment. This enables real-time monitoring of network security, user access, and more, enabling you to visualize the overall security posture, flag vulnerabilities, and initiate remediation/security event management activities.

Improved incident response: CSM allows organizations to respond to security incidents more effectively. It gathers detailed information about the incidents, including the origin and extent of the damage, and helps you optimize your organization’s response and defense efficiently.

Conclusion

Cyber attacks and data breaches pose harmful consequences that damage an organization’s reputation—we keep hearing new cases every day. Continuous security monitoring serves as one of the significant solutions. The right solution offers a mechanism that continuously keeps track of their controls and makes short work of aligning them with their compliance requirements.

Sprinto is a scalable compliance automation platform that seamlessly integrates with your tech stack to strengthen your cyber security posture. It provides continuous security monitoring and offers real-time visibility of the status of all internal controls and processes from a single intuitive dashboard.

Sprinto isn’t just a CSM solution but a security enabler for improving the overall security and compliance stance. Let’s show you how it’s done. See Sprinto in action. 

FAQs

Why is continuous security monitoring important?

Continuous security monitoring is important because it provides organizations with greater visibility into their overall security architecture and helps them detect and mitigate potential risks effectively. It also helps them be aware of and determine continuous compliance with security policies and protect you from any hindrances to your business continuity. 

Do security certifications require continuous monitoring for cybersecurity?

Predominantly yes. Certifications such as SOC2 and ISO 27001 require organizations for continuous monitoring in order to stay compliant. Having so not only guides you in having a secure system but also opens up new doors of opportunities by demonstrating your commitment to security. 

What are the goals of continuous monitoring?

The goal of continuous monitoring is to automate the process of collecting, correlating, and analyzing potential threats by leveraging continuous monitoring tools. Which ultimately provides a deeper understanding of the threat landscape and enables you to develop appropriate mitigation plans and act on them.