Compliance mandates are a fact of life for security teams. There is no shortage of rules and regulations businesses must meet to certify that their organizations are architecting to specified standards for data handling, access controls, testing and auditing, and so much more. Over the years, cybersecurity teams have bemoaned the fact that “compliance does not equal security,” and that a good security program goes well beyond checkboxes. To quote Avishai Avivi, compliance expert and CISO of Safebreach, as he stated during a recent podcast with OX’s CEO, Neatsun Ziv, “Compliance is rarely is up to speed with the actual [security] need of the moment,” making it unsuitable as the goal of the security team’s operations.

However, over the last two decades, in an attempt to curb the swelling number and severity of cyber attacks, and to hold organizations accountable when their security practices are lax, government agencies have stepped up — more recently, partnering with cybersecurity experts — to craft and pass more stringent legislation that holds companies to higher security standards. The legislation equally impacts end-user companies and builders of security products and services.

One of the most sought-after compliance certifications is FedRAMP (Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program), a mandatory authorization that cloud services providers (including software and SaaS providers) must obtain to work with the U.S. federal government. Any cloud or cloud-based organization wanting to sell into or partner with federal agencies must be FedRAMP certified if that work entails any information collection, maintenance, processing, dissemination, or disposal.

FedRAMP certification is a long, hard, and costly process. Nonetheless, cloud vendors and businesses offering products/services via cloud infrastructure find it an extremely beneficial process, as it smooths the path to winning government contracts.

If your company builds software and applications and is considering FedRAMP certification, there are many ways OX Security can help. AppSec and application security posture management (ASPM) are complicated, at best; ensuring you have full AppSec coverage using traditional, siloed tools and techniques (e.g., SAST, SCA, secrets security, SBOM) is impossible. OX Security streamlines AppSec and ASPM, giving you the full visibility and control you need to achieve fedRAMP and win even more customers — inside and outside the U.S. federal government.

Streamline Security Assessments

FedRAMP’s aim is to “promote the adoption of secure cloud services across the federal government by providing a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for cloud products and services.” In keeping with this goal, there are three main areas where AppSec and ASPM vendors can help. Your chosen vendor(s) must be able to provide:

• Automated Vulnerability Scanning:

  An effective AppSec tool should automate vulnerability scanning across a customer’s cloud environment and help identify potential security issues that could hinder FedRAMP authorization. Optimally, the solution will combine AppSec domains (i.e., SAST, DAST, IaC, SBOM, secrets scanning, etc.), or at the very least, aggregate findings so that AppSec teams can understand the full security state of the application environment.

• Compliance Mapping:

  ASPM and AppSec tools must make it easy to map security findings to FedRAMP controls, thereby reducing the effort it takes for customers to understand where remediation efforts should be focused.

• Detailed Reporting:

  The chosen solution must generate detailed dashboards and reports that illustrate the organization’s application security posture and help AppSec teams address control requirements. This helps simplify the audit process for FedRAMP authorization.

Where OX Security Shines

We at OX Security feel that the three aforementioned bullets should be table stakes for AppSec/ASPM vendors, which is why they are baked into our solution. But OX aims to outpace other vendors in our category. Whether your company is on a path toward FedRAMP authorization or simply up-leveling your AppSec game, here’s what you get when you implement OX:

Future-Proof

• Advanced Technology: The OX Security solution incorporates the latest technology capabilities, including AI and machine learning, to help you stay ahead of evolving threats and ensure long-term relevance.
  • Continuous Innovation: The OX team is committed to continuous improvement. Frequent feature releases and product updates ensure that the OX platform is regularly updated per industry and client needs, and can accurately and effectively address emerging vulnerabilities.
  • Adaptive Capabilities: Designed from the ground up to adapt to new security challenges and threats, our team builds components that can evolve with the threat landscape, providing robust protection now and in the future.

Scalability & Self-Management

• Scalable Architecture: The OX platform is built to scale effortlessly, accommodating the needs of both small teams and large enterprises, guaranteeing OX will grow alongside your organization.
  • Self-Managed Deployment: oX offers a flexible, self-managed deployment, which allows you to maintain control over your security environment and customize configurations to meet business-specific requirements.
  • Ease of Integration: OX’s technology integrates seamlessly with existing infrastructure, which reduces disruption and provides a smooth scaling process. Further, our solution is built to normalize data collected from third-party tools, giving you a single pane of glass from which to manage AppSec and make more informed, strategic decisions for your company.

Comprehensive Security Coverage

• End-to-End AppSec: Our comprehensive approach covers the entire application security lifecycle, from development to deployment, from code to cloud, ensuring no aspect of your security is left unprotected.
  • Holistic Protection: OX Security protects across all layers of your applications, including open-source components, containers, and third-party integrations, resulting in an increased security posture with demonstrable results.
  • FedRAMP Compliance: The OX platform adheres to FedRAMP’s rigorous standards, which means you get the most reliable application security tool to cover all regulatory requirements.

4 Key Benefits for FedRAMP:

• • Regulatory Assurance:

    With OX Security’s FedRAMP-friendly platform, businesses can confidently meet federal security standards, ensuring all data (company and customer) is protected at the highest level.

• Continuous Monitoring:

  The OX platform provides real-time insights and continuous monitoring, making it easy to quickly detect application security issues and demonstrate ongoing compliance. This proactive approach aligns well with FedRAMP’s emphasis on secure development practices.

• • Standardization and Automation:

    OX helps organizations enforce consistent security policies and automate security testing across development, staging, and production environments. This consistency is crucial for meeting FedRAMP’s control requirements.

• A Trusted Security Partner

  : With OX, your business gains a trusted and proven solution that aligns with the stringent requirements of the federal government.

Additional Benefits:

In addition to the FedRAMP-related elements listed above, OX Security offers additional benefits to every organization, whether the goal is FedRAMP compliance or simple assurance that the company’s software development program can secure every application without friction.

• Improved Security Posture: 

By proactively identifying and addressing vulnerabilities, OX strengthens our customers’ overall security posture, making them not only FedRAMP compliant but also more secure in general.

• Reduced Risk:

  OX provides early vulnerability identification and allows for easy patching. This approach significantly reduces the risk of software compromise and downstream effects on the business, including data breach, financial loss, operational disruption, and reputational damage.

With OX Security in your AppSc arsenal, your security and IT teams can streamline the FedRAMP compliance process, improve your security posture, and gain a competitive edge in the federal cloud market.

To learn more about OX’s Active Application Security Posture Management, contact our sales team, sign up for a personalized demo, or register for a free trial today.

Reference

The post Three Ways Ox Security Helps You Achieve FedRAMP appeared first on OX Security.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from OX Security authored by Katie Teitler-Santullo. Read the original post at: https://www.ox.security/three-ways-ox-security-helps-you-achieve-fedramp/