PlexTrac ConceptsContinuous Validation

Continuous validation, also known as continuous security validation (CSV), is a process of ongoing testing and analysis of an organization’s security to ensure efficiency and effectiveness against threats. 

The overall goal of CSV is to validate that the organization’s security is reliable and able to detect problems in real time and keep defenses strong throughout the security lifecycle. This process can be performed automatically through security validation tools. 

Continuous validation is important for security because it empowers organizations to evaluate their cybersecurity efforts against the latest threats and vulnerabilities through ongoing assessment and testing.

Continuous validation optimizes security measures by helping teams:

• Identify gaps in security controls and policies
• Prioritize and mitigate risks based on those gaps
• Monitor ongoing changes in incident management, response, and detection
• Minimize mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to remediate (MTTR)
• Refine log management by validating required logs for threat detection and remediation
• Verify that systems are up to date against the latest threats

Continuous validation brings many benefits, but as with any security practice, there are also challenges that you should keep in mind and prepare for.

Benefits of Continuous Validation

• Earlier detection and remediation: With consistent monitoring and data validation, organizations can identify issues quickly and minimize potential damage.
• Rapid adaptation and agility: Ongoing validation empowers organizations to review processes and systems continuously and adjust as needed.
• Reduced risk faster: Detecting security issues quicker minimizes security gaps and greater risks such as a cyberattack or data breach.
• Improved visibility and decision-making: Combining continuous validation with continuous monitoring will bring better visibility across the tech stack and enable better, quicker decisions based on real-time and historical data.
• Stronger security posture and compliance: Catching vulnerabilities like misconfigurations early on will help strengthen security measures and practices.

Challenges of Continuous Validation

• More complex integration: Integrating automated validation tools can be a complicated, sometimes painful process often requiring complex workflows. Integration experts, whether internal or third-party, can ensure proper setup.
• Potential increase of false positives/negatives: Automated CSV tools may generate false positives or negatives, which require hands-on work to validate or filter irrelevant notifications.
• Increased maintenance: CSV tools require regular updates to detect the latest vulnerabilities and attack paths. This ongoing maintenance will also ensure regulatory compliance, but this can be draining depending on available resources.

Perform a higher volume of tests in less time to truly demonstrate progress and prevent recurring vulnerabilities with PlexTrac. PlexTrac helps you maximize your investment in Pentesting as a Service (PTaaS), breach and attack simulation (BAS), and continuous validation tools. Watch this video to learn more.
Request a demo today to learn how to fast-track your continuous validation and shrink your assessment cycles from months to days.

AI in Cybersecurity
Automated Pentesting
Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS)
Continuous Monitoring
CTEM (Continuous Threat Exposure Management)
Exposure Management
Proactive Security
Purple Teaming
Red Teaming
Vulnerability Management

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