About MindPoint Group

MindPoint Group provides solutions to identify and defend against cybersecurity threats, close security gaps, and manage risk. They are the driving force behind Ansible Lockdown, an open-source compliance-as-code benchmark remediation and audit tool that automates industry-standard compliances including STIG and CIS controls. Automating security requirements with Ansible Lockdown helps organizations minimize the effort to achieve compliance with industry standards.

Challenge

Automating system security requirements can be difficult and time-consuming. MindPoint Group solves this issue with Ansible Lockdown, a library of Ansible automation content for hardening common operating systems, applications, and network devices and clouds, helping organizations achieve recognized security benchmark compliance for CIS (Center for Internet Security) or STIG (Secure Technical Implementation Guides).

While Ansible Lockdown represents a comprehensive collection of Ansible content developed and maintained by expert-level cybersecurity and Ansible professionals, even expert-maintained content demands continuous refinement and tuning.

Solution

XLAB Steampunk, true to our open-source spirit, offered free in-depth scans of Ansible Lockdown repositories using Steampunk Spotter, an Ansible Playbook Platform, with the goal of improving the quality, updated Ansible practices, and reliability of project’s playbooks, while simplifying upgrades and maintenance. This ensures users receive adaptable configurations that comply with the most stringent security standards. Steampunk Spotter identified a few key places where updated modules could improve Ansible Lockdown and called attention to potential formatting issues that would be difficult to find manually.

Result

The collaboration between XLAB Steampunk and MindPoint group resulted in improved playbooks, raising the bar for security and reliability. The synergy between MindPoint Group and XLAB Steampunk ultimately translates to higher quality Ansible content, freely available to end-users. It demonstrates how uniting expertise benefits the broader user base, leading to the creation of reliable, secure, and high-quality automation solutions. The improved automation solutions resulting from this collaboration contribute to the enrichment of the Ansible ecosystem, ensuring that users worldwide benefit from the highest standards and best practices in automation.