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What is File Integrity Monitoring?
The adage “the only constant is change” holds true in an organization’s digital infrastructure. Changes are happening all the time within your file systems, networks, endpoints, cloud storage, etc. But how can you tell the difference between authorized, business-as-usual changes and suspicious changes that could indicate the first steps of a breach?
File integrity monitoring (FIM) is a security control used to monitor IT infrastructure and alert on questionable changes that may be a sign of a cyberattack. FIM was first introduced by Tripwire’s founder and was widely adopted when it became a requirement for compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
Simply put, FIM is about tracking changes against an established, secure baseline and alerting on changes that suggest a security risk or undermine regulatory compliance. A powerful FIM solution like Fortra’s Tripwire® Enterprise can tell you:
- Who made the change
- What changed
- When it changed
- Where the change occurred
- How to remediate the change
To learn more about Tripwire Enterprise, fill out the form to request a personalized demo with one of our FIM experts or continue reading to discover what sets Tripwire apart from the rest.
Basic “Checkbox” FIM vs Tripwire FIM
Not all FIM solutions work in the same way. Advanced FIM solutions, like Tripwire Enterprise, are designed with security professionals’ limited time and resources in mind, providing them with enough context and insight to focus on remediating the changes that matter by pinpointing them in what would otherwise be a profusion of alert noise.
Basic FIM
Change data without context
Excessive alert noise and false positive
Point-in-time change monitoring
No integrations
Tripwire FIM
Change data with “who, what, when, and where” context
Change intelligence that notifies you only when necessary
Real-time change monitoring
Change management ticketing systems, GRC, CMDB, ITSM, SIEM, DevOps, threat intelligence, and API integrations
The 5 Stages of Tripwire FIM
FIM and Regulatory Compliance
FIM helps organizations comply with the compliance standards below, as well as best practice frameworks such as the Center for Internet Security’s Critical Security Controls (CIS CSC) and the MITRE ATT&CK framework. Tripwire Enterprise automatically enforces continuous compliance with multiple standards simultaneously, including customized internal policies, with the industry’s largest library of 4,000+ platform and policy combinations.
PCI DSS
NERC CIP
GDPR
SOX
TISAX
HIPAA
FISMA
DISA STIG
NIA
NCA
UAE IA
CBE
Now, instead of spending as many as 28 man-days over a year providing manual proof of change control, we simply review our Tripwire Enterprise implementation and show evidence of compliance across the infrastructure. As a result, we now spend about an hour per audit answering questions about our change processes. That's a reduction of nearly 90%!
EdFinancial Services