What is Network Configuration Compliance?

• Network Configuration Compliance Definition

  Network Configuration Compliance Definition

  Network configuration compliance refers to implementing the proper controls, policies, and device settings to safeguard your network from attackers and comply with the latest industry requirements for standards like HIPAA and PCI DSS.
• Why is network configuration compliance important?

  Why is network configuration compliance important?

  Network compliance management can be vital to avoiding the potentially hefty penalties imposed by the regulators or government due to infringement of various industry standards and regulations, such as SOX and DISA STIG.

  Out-of-compliance or poorly configured devices can lead to network slowdowns or failures during peak hours, which can decrease employee productivity, customer trust, and business revenue.

  Achieving configuration compliance can also be essential from the network security perspective. For instance, a small change in the firewall configuration settings can make your network vulnerable to cyberattacks, which can result in the theft of sensitive business information.

  Regularly auditing your device settings, software versions, and hardware components can help mitigate security threats. The rapidly changing industry regulations or policies can also make network compliance management of utmost importance for every business, especially when configuration changes happen every minute in the network. Fulfilling compliance requirements by continuously monitoring and optimizing your device settings and security policies against industry standards can allow your business to experience substantial performance gains in the long run.
• How to achieve compliance

  How to achieve compliance

  Having better visibility into your existing device configuration settings and monitoring policies can be vital to ensuring compliance. Detailed and accurate configuration information can enable you to analyze the impact of software and hardware changes on your network performance and meet compliance requirements. Outlined below are some of the ways you can build a network with compliance in mind:

  • Automated configuration management - Keeping network devices up-to-date and compliant with industry standards is a primary focus of most businesses today. Automated tools such as network configuration and compliance management software can help rapidly audit your device settings and security policies to identify suspicious alterations and fix them to enforce compliance in your network. It also helps accelerate the change process, reduces manual errors, and enhances network security by offering timely notifications regarding internal and external security policy violations. It can also enable you to make mass configuration changes, schedule automated backups for device settings, and compare current and previous "known-good" configurations to detect and remediate inconsistencies quickly.
  • Proactive monitoring - Monitoring configuration settings, data security policies, backup procedures, and network traffic using different network administration tools can help uncover hidden issues that can lead to network slowdown and compliance violations. Performing a regular network assessment can also help you track and replace devices with known security vulnerabilities and mitigate the risk of non-compliance.
  • Compliance documentation - Documenting data security, device configuration, and system maintenance procedures can help improve your company's overall security and compliance posture. For example, having detailed audit-ready reports can allow you to compare your internal policies against different industry standards and rectify compliance issues.
• Identifying out-of-compliance configurations

  Identifying out-of-compliance configurations

  Manually tracking out-of-compliance configurations or devices in your network is often time-consuming and costly, with high chances of errors due to human error. Automated tools can offer a more efficient and streamlined way of identifying and fixing configuration errors in your network devices and maintaining compliance by reducing manual efforts.

  Advanced configuration management software can allow you to set up single or multiple configuration baselines, or a collection of most ideal device settings, for your network equipment. You can use the baselines as a reference to identify any inconsistencies in the current configuration files of your devices. The software can also send timely alerts after observing errors in device settings, allowing you to fix them quickly by restoring the previous stable configurations from the archive. Using configuration management software can also help you compare the devices' startup and running configuration files to track any unsaved, erroneous changes that could lead to compliance issues in your network. Network configuration management software can allow you to create custom network audit and compliance policies per your business needs. By validating every proposed configuration change against your internal and external security policies before applying it to a device, it can run automated compliance checks across your network and generate detailed reports to help identify devices responsible for compliance violations in your network.
• Compliance assessment and standards

  Compliance assessment and standards

  With the dramatic increase in network attacks, businesses can benefit from adopting standard practices and implementing proper security measures to stay compliant with the latest industry standards. Outlined below are some of the key industry regulations and frameworks to know when maintaining network compliance:

  • DISA STIG: Formulated by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), STIG is a set of security guidelines that allow the Department of Defense (DoD) to make its IT infrastructure more resilient against outside attacks and mitigate system vulnerabilities. These guidelines or standards are essentially a collection of the most optimal configurations for the network devices of the DoD and its partners. Applying these settings to network devices can make them more secure against data theft and other security incidents.
  • NIST FISMA: These policies or guidelines require state and federal agencies to safeguard confidential information by enforcing proper security controls and conducting detailed risk assessments. FISMA, supervised by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), also regulates third-party contractors and private firms working on different federal projects.
  • HIPAA: These regulations require organizations across industries to secure employees' sensitive health insurance information through robust data encryption, password protection, and user authentication methods. Organizations should continuously monitor employees' medical records, conduct training and awareness programs, and update systems regularly to maintain HIPAA compliance.
  • PCI DSS: This is a well-known, worldwide data security standard that instructs companies to store, manage, and exchange stakeholders' financial information in a completely secure and encrypted manner. Besides applying robust data encryption and access controls, it also requires companies to maintain detailed logs while accessing the financial data of customers and employees.

  GDPR: This is a European Union (EU) legislation directing organizations to maintain complete transparency while dealing with customers' personal information. Under this regulation, any organization directly or indirectly selling its products or services to EU citizens must implement robust security measures and document them properly to safeguard customer data.