Overview#
Unintended changes that move systems away from approved baselines. Managed through configuration management, change reviews, and continuous validation.
Core objectives#
- Establish shared definitions of Configuration Drift for security, engineering, and leadership teams.
- Connect Configuration Drift activities to measurable risk reduction and resilience goals.
- Provide onboarding notes so new team members can quickly understand how Configuration Drift works here.
Implementation notes#
- Identify the primary owner for Configuration Drift, the data sources involved, and the systems affected.
- Document the minimum viable process, tooling, and runbooks that keep Configuration Drift healthy.
- Map Configuration Drift practices to standards such as ISO/IEC 27001, NIST CSF, or CIS Controls.
Operational signals#
- Leading indicators: early warnings that Configuration Drift might degrade (e.g., backlog growth, noisy alerts, or missed SLAs).
- Lagging indicators: realized impact that shows Configuration Drift failed or needs investment (e.g., incidents, audit findings).
- Feedback loops: retrospectives and metrics reviews that tune Configuration Drift continuously.
Related practices#
- Align Configuration Drift with defense-in-depth planning, threat modeling, and disaster recovery tests.
- Communicate updates to stakeholders through concise briefs, dashboards, and internal FAQs.
- Pair Configuration Drift improvements with tabletop exercises to validate expectations.