Compliance Never Stops: From Compliance Artifact to Operational Advantage
Part 2: Acting with Confidence at the Speed of Change
By Chor-Ching Fan
In the first post in this series, we explored continuous monitoring through a policy lens. We discussed how effective continuous monitoring is not just about observing systems, but about validating what those observations mean and grounding them in clearly defined policy. That foundation is essential, but it is not sufficient on its own. Continuous monitoring only delivers real value when validated insight leads to informed action.
FedRAMP 20x reflects this reality. By enabling near-real-time visibility into a CSP’s compliance posture, FedRAMP 20x creates both opportunity and responsibility. Organizations must be prepared not only to see changes as they occur, but to respond to them in ways that are timely, consistent, and defensible.
From Visibility to Decision-Making
Modern cloud environments generate a constant stream of security-relevant signals. Continuous monitoring makes those signals visible, but visibility alone does not reduce risk. Before action can be taken, monitoring results must be validated. Validation ensures that a detected change represents a meaningful deviation from policy, not a false positive, expected configuration drift, or inconsequential fluctuation. This step is critical in environments where automation can surface thousands of events daily.
Policy provides the context that makes validation possible. It defines what acceptable operation looks like, what constitutes noncompliance, and which deviations require attention. Ironically, in the absence of policy-aligned validation, organizations risk both acting too slowly and acting too often because they lack a clear standard for when deviation actually matters.
Why Informed Action Matters
In the FedRAMP model, action can involve risk acceptance, justification documentation, or stakeholder coordination, rather than just remediation. Intentional and traceable actions must align with risk tolerance. For instance, a policy may allow configuration drift during maintenance, and if continuous monitoring detects a deviation that adheres to the policy, the action is to document it instead of remediation. Conversely, if a high-impact control fails validation, immediate corrective action, stakeholder notification, and risk communication updates to the Authorizing Official are required.
FedRAMP 20x raises expectations around timeliness. When agencies and Authorizing Officials have access to more current compliance data, delays in response become more visible and harder to justify. In this environment, the ability to take informed action quickly becomes a core compliance capability.
Action as a Continuous Capability
Just as compliance no longer stops at authorization, action cannot be treated as a one-time or ad hoc activity. Effective organizations embed response mechanisms into their continuous monitoring processes, ensuring that validated findings flow naturally into corrective workflows. This requires alignment across security, compliance, operations, and governance teams. It also requires systems that are designed to support continuous assessment and response, rather than static evidence collection. In a FedRAMP 20x environment, action becomes part of the ongoing authorization story. It demonstrates not just that controls exist, but that they are actively managed as conditions change.
Enabling Action in a Continuous Monitoring Model
Rizkly is designed to support this continuous lifecycle: from monitoring, to validation, to action. By aligning monitoring outputs with defined policy expectations, Rizkly helps organizations distinguish between noise and risk and supports consistent decision-making when deviations occur. Rather than treating compliance as a series of disconnected assessment events, Rizkly enables organizations to manage compliance as an operational discipline. This approach supports both snapshots of compliance for external stakeholders and sustained, real-time visibility for internal teams, creating the conditions necessary for timely and informed action.
Acting with Confidence at the Speed of Change
FedRAMP 20x is ultimately about trust: trust that cloud systems remain secure as they evolve, and trust that organizations can manage risk without slowing innovation. Continuous monitoring provides the signals. Policy provides the context. Action is where trust is maintained. Organizations that can validate what they see and respond in accordance with policy are better positioned to operate at the speed of change—without sacrificing assurance. In the FedRAMP 20x model, the ability to take informed, timely action is what transforms continuous monitoring from an oversight mechanism into a strategic capability.
