Overview
The term “Drift” represents the difference between the current physical state of your IT environment and the expected or correct state. The Configuration Management Database (CMDB) typically represents the correct or current states of enterprise data center configuration items.
Drift management refers to the process of maintaining consistency and alignment with the intended state of a system or infrastructure. It involves monitoring and controlling changes that occur over time in an environment. It is applicable to multiple contexts, including cloud infrastructure, IT security, and configuration management because the overall objective is to prevent unintended deviations from the desired state of IT infrastructure.
Drift Management and IT Security
Drift can happen in enterprises due to distinct reasons, including manual interventions, software updates, and environmental factors. Understanding configuration drift is a key means to maintain a secure and efficient system. While not a core security responsibility, managing infrastructure changes is extremely critical for identifying security events.
Drift occurs when the actual configuration of servers, networks, or other components deviates from the baseline. It can lead to application failures and poor lifecycle management. Regular checks, automated monitoring, and adherence to best security practices prevent drifts. It helps enterprises to –
- Enforce predefined rules, policies, and risk-remediation actions to follow compliance
- Ensure IT resilience against any kind of non-compliance risks
- Close identified deviations between requirements, requests, and commands
Role of ARCON in Drift Management In security compliance, ARCON offers Configuration Drift Management (CDM) a robust centralized engine for IT controls, risk assessment, and risk mitigation to secure Information assets. Majorly in BFSI, Telecom, Government and Utilities industries, this solution has built its demand due to increased stringency of regulatory policies and standard prerequisites. There are three USPs of ARCON | CDM that are admired by SRM leaders.
1) Identify and address Drifts: ARCON | CDM helps enterprises to follow a process that revolves around the vigilant monitoring and control of configuration drifts within an organization’s IT infrastructure. Configuration drift occurs when unauthorized alterations or deviations arise between the configurations and settings of IT environments. Drift Management diligently preserves the desired state of security controls by continuously comparing the present configuration of systems against the new policies. This proactive approach identifies any discrepancies or variances, empowering security administrators to expeditiously investigate and rectify them. Through the systematic management of drift, organizations uphold compliance with security policies, industry standards, and regulatory mandates, by mitigating the risk of non-compliance and potential security risk.
2) Compliance Controls and Measures: ARCON | CDM encompasses an extensive array of tools, processes, and capabilities meticulously crafted to ensure unwavering adherence to an organization’s security policies as well as regulatory requirements. This comprehensive solution provides a centralized platform where adept security administrators can flawlessly define, implement, and monitor compliance controls and measures throughout the IT infrastructure. Compliance Management empowers organizations with remarkable features including policy management according to the compliance requirements based on the organization’s need. It proficiently identifies compliance gaps, empowers proactive implementation of remediation actions, and diligently tracks progress towards fulfilling regulatory obligations.
3) Risk Remediation and Risk Assessment: ARCON | CDM offers a powerful suite of capabilities that harmonize and optimize the management of security-related tasks, approvals, and collaboration across an organization. As a result, IT risks are assessed and remediated. After building a centralized platform, security administrators gain the ability to establish, automate, and enforce standardized workflows for diverse compliance activities and security operations. With this Workflow Management, organizations define task sequences, assign responsibilities, and establish approval mechanisms. This ensures consistent and efficient execution of security processes and mitigates risks to deviations and non-compliance.
Conclusion
Briefly, IT administrators and compliance officers prioritize enterprise-wide security and compliance with ARCON | Configuration Drift Management (CDM) solution. It not just ensures continuous risk assessment for technology platforms, but also assesses optimization of Information Risk Management posture seamlessly.
