How to automate the evidence collection process from start to finish

Audits and the months leading up to them are among the most stressful periods for infosec teams. A typical SOC 2 audit can take up to 9 months to prepare and a further 3 months to complete, with infosec teams bearing the burden of conducting control testing and collecting evidence.

Audits hinge on the evidence gathered. Organizations need to record evidence that’s sufficient, relevant, and reliable; while balancing multiple frameworks, productivity pinches, and larger business goals on top of oversight responsibilities. 

Getting evidencing processes right the first time around and knowing how to automate the evidence collection process are crucial for meeting timelines and keeping business plans on track. 

Automated control monitoring and evidence collection is the single biggest productivity enabler for any infosec team. Continuously run control tests and gather high-fidelity evidence on the go to ensure compliance, audit readiness, and stress-free evidence review from the jump and maybe even get 65% of CISOs not to consider stress-induced job exits!

Sprinto empowers infosec teams with a responsive automation toolkit that can run control tests as needed, automatically nudge remediation to fix control gaps, and effortlessly collect time-stamped, auditor-grade evidence. This streamlined approach saves up to 90% of the effort spent coordinating evidence. 

Obstacles to good evidence collection tend to show up as process-specific problems – the right controls aren’t mapped to compliance criteria, tests may happen sporadically, check failures may go unheeded, and evidence gathered manually might be incorrect. 

Good evidence is an indication of process quality; quality evidence collection depends on mapping, monitoring, validating, and testing controls continuously. As it turns out, manual methods are simply too prone to complexities, errors, and inefficiencies for this purpose. 

In fact 65% of security compliance experts believe that streamlining manual processes and automating evidence collection will reduce compliance costs and complexities. 

Automated workflows add fuel to fast-growing companies, ensuring compliance management happens as it should, with high efficiency and without chipping away resources or side-stepping business priorities.

Manual control management results in a number of challenges to good evidencing.   

• Creating linkages manually between risks, controls, and event logs is challenging. The lack of connectedness and visibility often results in control redundancies and inadequate evidence. 

• Collaborating with teams and business units to enforce controls and gather evidence, via recordings and screenshots, is a massive drain on infosec productivity. 

• Maintaining an up-to-date view of how controls are doing and where they’re failing is difficult and visibility takes a hit. 

• Taking on new compliance mandates and consequently scaling up evidence gathering becomes a herculean ordeal, as organisations can’t rely on manual methods to scale efficiently. 

Setting up effective controls and leveraging automation for testing and evidence collection go hand-in-hand. A comprehensive framework to map and organize controls lays the groundwork for efficiency, while an automated control testing and evidence collection minimizes manual efforts and disruptions, enabling organizations to overcome frenzy and friction.

Automation provides a path of least resistance for infosec teams. 

Error-free evidence collection powered by automation

Sprinto is a robust, responsive compliance automation platform that empowers organizations to take control of all aspects of an audit. The platform enables teams to handle control implementation, control testing, evidence gathering, and evidence sampling while reducing the need for excessive collaboration, eliminating fatigue that often comes with audit preparations and establishing protocols on how to automate the evidence collection process.

With Sprinto, infosec teams can minimize the manual effort required for evidence collection and scale it to meet changing business needs. Consequently, Sprinto-enabled automation-led control management increases efficiency and ensures precision and depth in compliance management.

How to automate the evidence collection process with Sprinto

Supported by automation, Sprinto makes compliance and audit preparation more thorough and less complicated. Infosec teams can escape from repetitive, reactive work and avoid control management fatigue. Ultimately, organizations enter audits with complete assurance that the evidence is correct and complete. 

Here’s how.

Map and maintain an up-to-date inventory of assets

Sprinto integrates with any cloud stack to help build a true inventory of assets, including infrastructure, cloud resources, code, and personnel. This helps determine the range of coverage and controls necessary to meet compliance criteria so that infosec teams have a comprehensive view of compliance scope.

Add cloud infrastructure providers & implement controls

Implement controls as per preferred frameworks

Sprinto’s extensive library of cloud-relevant controls helps you to accurately map the appropriate policies and security controls to each asset as per framework criteria. By eliminating reliance on Excel sheets and manual mapping of criteria and controls, Sprinto ensures that audit preparations are on track right from the start.

Apply fully-automated checks or rule-based workflows

Test control effectiveness by implementing Sprinto’s pre-mapped checks to controls. Depending on the depth of integration and API connectors, automate up to 99% of checks, eliminating manual effort through and through. Use automated workflows for non-integrated assets to monitor controls as required and send alerts to control owners to promptly act upon failing controls.

Utilize pre-set workflows

Track control health in real-time

Track check status and trigger remediation notifications to IT stakeholders to fix control health and eliminate risks of non-compliance. Leverage context-rich, time-bound alerts to address failing checks against controls and maintain overall compliance health.

Manage failing checks on the Sprinto dashboard & set parameters to resolve failures

Gather time-stamped audit-grade evidence

Gather time-stamped, auditor-grade evidence and event logs as you go or on-demand while maintaining least-privileged access to systems. Sprinto operates with a minimal footprint, accessing only relevant configurations to validate controls and capture evidence. Apply evidence from a single test across multiple frameworks simultaneously, reducing redundant efforts and streamlining processes. With continuous monitoring capabilities, eliminate data staleness and ensure sufficient and relevant evidence to ace each audit.

Collect, view and download right-sized evidence automatically

Get your evidences right the first time with Sprinto

Unified control management, powered by automation, is a game-changer. Automation streamlines evidence collection and eliminates fatigue while delivering unparalleled efficiency and speed. Embracing automation isn’t just a choice—it’s a necessity for fast-growing organizations looking to thrive, grow fast, and win big. 

Sprinto drives efficiency while ensuring stability, security, and comprehensive monitoring of your IT operations. With responsive integrations, least privilege access, and 99% automation coverage, Sprinto becomes your ultimate efficiency ally for how to automate the evidence collection process.

Talk to our compliance experts to learn exactly how.