Automated CIS Compliance Platform for Multi-Vendor Infrastructure
Built a Python-based compliance automation platform that validates 2,000+ network and security devices against CIS benchmarks across 8 platform families, reducing audit cycles from 6-8 weeks to under 4 hours.
The problem
The client's infrastructure spanned Cisco, Palo Alto, Check Point, VMware, F5, and Windows Server across 50+ sites. Compliance assessments were performed manually using spreadsheets, taking the team 6-8 weeks per quarterly audit cycle. Results were often stale by the time reports were delivered, and there was no mechanism to detect configuration drift between audit periods. The CISO needed continuous compliance visibility rather than point-in-time snapshots.
The approach
We built a modular, read-only compliance platform covering 8 platform families: RHEL 7/8/9/10, Windows Server 2016–2025, ESXi 7/8, vCenter 7/8, F5 BIG-IP (TMOS), F5OS, Cisco ACI, and four database families (MSSQL, Db2, MySQL, Oracle). The platform connects via API and SSH, extracts running configurations, normalizes them into a vendor-agnostic data model, and evaluates them against CIS Level 1 benchmark controls mapped per platform. Reports are generated in JSON and HTML showing pass/fail/exception status per control, per device, and per site. A drift detection module compares current configs against approved baselines and alerts on deviations.
Results
- Audit cycle reduced from 6-8 weeks to under 4 hours for full estate
- 2,000+ devices assessed against CIS benchmarks automatically
- 8 platform families covered with normalized compliance data
- Configuration drift detection running daily with automated alerting
- Platform handed off to client's internal team with full documentation
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