Technology, government, and business leaders are continually challenged to identify new technologies that will improve performance and operations and implement those technologies at the right time in their maturity. The Gartner Hype Cycle is a critical resource that informs these decisions.

According to Gartner, “Gartner Hype Cycle methodology gives you a view of how a technology or application will evolve over time, providing a sound source of insight to manage its deployment within the context of your specific business goals.”

Telos is thrilled to be recognized in the Gartner Hype Cycle for Cyber Risk Management. Telos was listed in the “Continuous Controls Monitoring” category or CCM. According to Gartner, “Continuous controls monitoring (CCM) automates the monitoring of cybersecurity controls’ effectiveness and relevant information gathering in near real time.”

CCM tools make IT and security teams more productive and effective. The Gartner report says, “CCM tools provide constant monitoring of security controls, allowing faster detection of potential threats and minimizing breaches and regulatory noncompliance, preventing significant financial and reputational damage.”

In the Hype Cycle, CCM is placed in a position indicating that now is a good time for organizations to build prototypes and proof of concepts, and do benchmarks and testing of CCM in anticipation of an enterprise-wide deployment.

The Xacta cyber risk management and compliance software platform from Telos combined with Telos’ technical services capabilities are a great way to get started on continuous controls monitoring. In addition, our consulting services partnership with IBM means that organizations around the world can implement the people, processes, and technology to operationalize and automate both cybersecurity compliance and regulatory risk using IBM’s Active Governance Services (AGS) offering, which is based on Xacta.

Xacta has been an established presence in government and commercial enterprises for over 20 years. Functionally, the software stands out in CCM by supporting large and complex IT systems, public and hybrid clouds, multiple control frameworks and IT roles, and automated testing and compliance. From a data integration perspective, Xacta can pull from and push to industry-leading vulnerability scanning tools, GRC systems for governance, risk, and compliance, and data analytics, inventory, and monitoring tools.

Innovations in Xacta include “crosswalk” features that allow for controls mapping and automated conversion across a range of security frameworks and standards. “Inheritance” enables risk and IT professionals to include public cloud security controls in their enterprise IT systems. Xacta provides ad hoc reporting, data visualization and dashboards. For U.S. Federal Government use cases, Xacta is the first risk management and compliance software to produce machine-readable submissions in OSCAL (Open Security Controls Assessment Language) for FedRAMP, a government-wide compliance program to assess, authorize, and continuously monitor cloud products and services.

The cyber threat landscape continues to change and expand and cyber risks show no signs of abating. In the report, Gartner advises “This Hype Cycle demonstrates the need for organizations, including critical infrastructure operators, to respond, restructure and rebalance their approach to cyber risk management.” Considering Xacta for CCM should be part of that process. Gartner concludes, “CCM tools not only enhance a company’s cybersecurity posture but also build a more secure, successful business.”

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

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This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from Telos.