Continuous Compliance Assessment via Client-Side Change Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing compliance assessment methods fail to continuously monitor and evaluate changes in computing device settings and configuration parameters, leading to delayed detection of non-compliance issues until the next server request.
Innovation Solution
A system where a compliance server receives change data from a target host, applies collection policies to detect changes, and evaluates these changes against compliance policies, generating test results and reports in real-time to ensure continuous compliance assessment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a server periodically requests client settings for compliance monitoring, then the server can analyze and store settings to generate compliance reports, but changes occurring between requests are not captured until the next server request
Solution Approach 1:
The compliance agent is pre-installed on the client device and continuously monitors settings changes before the server requests them. When a change occurs, the agent proactively captures the setting value and transmits it to the server, eliminating the waiting period for the next scheduled request and ensuring no compliance violations are missed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system establishes a feedback loop where the compliance agent on the client device continuously monitors configuration settings and automatically reports changes to the server. This real-time feedback mechanism ensures that the server receives immediate notification of any setting changes, enabling continuous compliance assessment rather than periodic checking.
2Reliability
If the server continuously monitors all client settings in real-time, then all compliance violations are immediately detected, but the system complexity and resource consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The compliance monitoring system is segmented into two independent components: a lightweight compliance agent deployed on each client device that performs local monitoring, and a central server that receives and processes reports. This segmentation distributes the monitoring workload to client devices, eliminating the need for complex continuous polling infrastructure on the server side while maintaining real-time detection capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The compliance agent on the client device autonomously monitors configuration settings, detects changes, and transmits reports to the server without requiring server-initiated requests. This self-service approach enables continuous monitoring with minimal server resources, as each client independently manages its own compliance reporting.
Data Source
AI summary
A compliance server receives change data associated with a change captured on a target host wherein the target host may have provided the change data in response to detecting the change, and the change data may include one or more rules, settings, and/or parameters. Also, in various embodiments, the compliance server may determine whether the one or more rules, settings, and/or parameters meet one or more compliance policies and generate one or more test results based at least on the results of the determining. Further, in some embodiments, the target host may detect a change to a rule, setting, and/or parameter based on a collection policy defining what change data is to be collected by the target host and provide data associated with the rule, setting, and/or parameter as change data to the compliance server.