Traditional compliance programs face recurring challenges:
- → Manual Collection: Engineers manually gather screenshots, configuration exports, and log samples
- → Point-in-Time: Evidence is collected when asked for, not continuously
- → Gaps & Inconsistency: Different engineers collect evidence different ways
- → Tampering Risk: No way to prove evidence hasn't been altered
- → Storage Chaos: Evidence scattered across SharePoint, wikis, email
- → Retention Uncertainty: No systematic retention or deletion
The typical organization spends 200-400 hours per year collecting and organizing compliance evidence. smartNOC eliminates this entirely.
The smartNOC Evidence Pipeline
Evidence collection is built into every layer of the smartNOC architecture. Instead of documenting what you did, the platform continuously proves what it's doing.
Source: Build pipeline
Artifacts: Signed images, SBOMs, package manifests, build logs, reproducibility attestations
Retention: Permanent archive, cryptographically signed
Source: Provisioning engine
Artifacts: Role assignments, certificate issuance, network configuration, approval workflows
Retention: Lifecycle of resource + 1 year
Source: Ansible, CMDB, SELinux
Artifacts: Configuration snapshots, policy modules, firewall rules, service definitions
Retention: All changes retained, queryable by timestamp
Source: Monitoring agents, SELinux audit, system logs
Artifacts: Process execution, resource usage, access attempts, anomaly detections
Retention: 90 days rolling, extended for anomalies
Source: SSH logs, HTTP access logs, database audit
Artifacts: Authentication events, authorization decisions, data access, privilege escalation
Retention: 1 year minimum, 7 years for CUI access
Source: Doghouse, vulnerability scans
Artifacts: Compliance test results, vulnerability reports, remediation proofs, control validations
Retention: Permanent archive of all test runs
Evidence Categories
smartNOC collects evidence mapped to specific NIST 800-171 control families and assessment procedures.
| Control Family | Evidence Types | Collection Method | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access Control | Certificate inventory, RBAC policies, access logs, denied access attempts | Certificate authority logs, CMDB exports, SELinux audit | Continuous |
| Audit & Accountability | Audit log integrity hashes, retention proofs, log shipping status, audit policy | Database checksums, message bus metrics, monitoring agent health checks | Real-time |
| Configuration Management | Base image signatures, configuration drift reports, change approvals, package SBOMs | Build attestations, monitoring agents, CMDB workflow logs | On change |
| Identification & Authentication | Certificate issuance records, authentication events, MFA challenges, session logs | Certificate authority database, SSH logs, application logs | Per event |
| System & Comm Protection | TLS handshake logs, cipher suite usage, network flow logs, encryption validation | Service logs, Doghouse tests, network monitoring | Continuous |
| System & Info Integrity | Vulnerability scan results, patch status, anomaly detections, malware scan logs | Package manager, monitoring alerts, Doghouse scans | Daily + on-demand |
Operational Evidence
Beyond technical controls, smartNOC collects evidence of operational processes:
- → Change Management: All changes logged with approver, timestamp, and rollback procedure
- → Incident Response: Alert generation, escalation, containment actions, and resolution
- → Backup & Recovery: Backup completion logs, integrity checks, test restoration results
- → Maintenance Windows: Scheduled maintenance records, actual downtime, validation results
- → Training & Awareness: Integration with HR systems for security training completion
Evidence integrity is maintained through cryptographic techniques that make tampering immediately detectable.
Audit logs are written to database append-only tables. Once written, records cannot be modified or deleted. Attempted modifications trigger alerts and are themselves logged.
Each batch of log entries is hashed using SHA-256. Hashes are chained: hash(N) includes hash(N-1). Any tampering breaks the chain, providing immediate detection.
All evidence includes NTP-synchronized timestamps. Clock skew is monitored and alerted. For high-assurance needs, integration with RFC 3161 timestamping authorities available.
Integrity Validation: Auditors can independently verify evidence integrity by recomputing hash chains and comparing to stored values. Any discrepancy indicates tampering or corruption.
Auditor Interface
smartNOC provides a read-only interface for auditors and assessors to query evidence without requiring direct system access.
Query Capabilities
- → Time-Bounded Queries: "Show all access to CUI by user X between dates Y and Z"
- → Control-Based Queries: "Provide evidence of AC-3 enforcement for the past 90 days"
- → Configuration Snapshots: "Show the firewall configuration as of date X"
- → Change History: "List all configuration changes to system Y since last audit"
- → Incident Timeline: "Reconstruct incident I with all related events"
- → Compliance Status: "Show current compliance status for all 110 controls"
Evidence Export Formats
Evidence can be exported in multiple formats for assessor convenience:
- → PDF Reports: Formatted compliance reports with charts and summaries
- → CSV/Excel: Tabular data for auditor analysis and cross-referencing
- → JSON/XML: Machine-readable formats for automated assessment tools
- → SCAP Datastreams: Security Content Automation Protocol format for federal systems
- → OSCAL: Open Security Controls Assessment Language for FedRAMP/NIST compliance
Auditor Workflow
- Request Access: Auditor requests read-only access with time bounds and scope
- Credential Issuance: Time-limited certificate issued, MFA enforced
- Evidence Query: Auditor executes saved queries or creates custom queries
- Evidence Review: Results displayed in web interface or exported
- Validation: Auditor can validate integrity hashes independently
- Export: Evidence package exported for official record
Audit Trail: All auditor queries and exports are themselves logged, providing evidence of assessment activities.
Pre-Built Evidence Packages
smartNOC includes pre-configured evidence packages for common compliance scenarios:
Comprehensive evidence for all 110 NIST 800-171 controls covering the past 12 months. Includes configuration snapshots, access logs, test results, and change history.
Complete timeline reconstruction for security incidents. Includes initial detection, containment actions, affected systems, remediation steps, and lessons learned.
Evidence specifically formatted for Authority to Operate submissions. Includes security plan mappings, continuous monitoring reports, and POA&M tracking.
Plan of Action & Milestones evidence showing remediation progress, newly identified weaknesses, and compliance trend analysis.
Each package includes an integrity manifest with cryptographic signatures, ensuring the evidence package itself hasn't been tampered with.
For systems under continuous monitoring (ConMon), smartNOC automatically generates required evidence artifacts:
Monthly ConMon Reports
- → Security posture changes since last report
- → New vulnerabilities discovered and remediation status
- → Configuration changes with approvals
- → Access anomalies and investigation outcomes
- → Control effectiveness measurements
- → Trending analysis (improving, stable, degrading)
Real-Time Security Dashboards
AwarenessUI provides live dashboards showing:
- → Current compliance status by control family
- → Open security findings with severity and age
- → System health and availability metrics
- → Recent security events and alerts
- → Patch compliance percentage
- → Upcoming certificate expirations
Continuous monitoring transforms compliance from an annual event to an ongoing state. smartNOC's evidence automation makes ConMon sustainable without adding operational burden.
Industry data shows evidence collection consumes 200-400 hours annually for typical organizations. At $150/hour fully-loaded cost, that's $30K-$60K per year.
smartNOC eliminates this cost entirely. Evidence queries that previously took days now take seconds. Audit preparation that consumed weeks now requires hours for final review.
Additional ROI factors:
- → Reduced Audit Findings: Complete, consistent evidence reduces "unable to verify" findings
- → Faster Issue Resolution: Tamper-evident logs enable rapid root cause analysis
- → Lower Insurance Premiums: Demonstrable security controls may qualify for cyber insurance discounts
- → Competitive Advantage: Faster ATO and compliance certifications mean faster time-to-revenue
Schedule a demonstration of smartNOC's evidence collection and auditor interface. We'll show you:
- → Live queries against tamper-evident evidence store
- → Evidence package generation for sample assessment
- → Integrity verification and hash chain validation
- → Pre-built evidence packages for common scenarios
- → Continuous monitoring dashboard and trending