CIS Control 4 Compliance
Secure Configuration of Enterprise Assets and Software
What is CIS Control 4?
CIS Control 4: Secure Configuration of Enterprise Assets and Software focuses on establishing and maintaining secure baseline configurations for operating systems, applications, and devices.
Its objective is to prevent attackers from exploiting misconfigurations or default settings and to enforce consistent security policies across the enterprise.
Key CIS Control 4 requirements:
- Establish secure configuration standards for assets and applications.
- Enforce baseline configurations and prevent unauthorized changes.
- Use automated tools to manage and monitor configurations.
- Track, document, and remediate deviations from approved baselines.
- Continuously review and update configurations to address evolving threats.
How Visual Guard facilitates CIS Control 4 compliance:
Centralized security rules:
Define and enforce access and security policies at the application level without modifying source code.
Configuration governance:
Control which users or administrators can change sensitive application configurations.
Audit and monitoring:
Track configuration and security rule changes in immutable audit logs.
Automated policy enforcement:
Apply consistent access and security rules across applications and environments.
Detailed technical capabilities
Configuration Access Control
- Role-based access control (RBAC) to protect configuration settings
- Fine-grained restrictions down to specific functions, fields, or services
Audit & Traceability
- Immutable audit logs of configuration and security rule changes
Monitoring & Reporting
- Compliance-ready reporting to identify unauthorized modifications
- Real-time monitoring and alerts on suspicious configuration activity
Use case
Preventing unauthorized configuration changes in financial systems
A financial institution must secure application configurations against tampering or misconfigurations that could expose sensitive data.
How Visual Guard helped:
- Applied strict RBAC policies to limit who can modify application configurations.
- Tracked all configuration changes and exported logs for compliance reviews.
- Generated real-time alerts when unauthorized configuration attempts occurred.
Result: The institution enforced secure configuration standards, prevented misconfigurations, and demonstrated compliance with CIS Control 4.