Security posture decays by default. If you don’t test continuously, you’re gambling that nothing important has changed since last week. In modern systems, that gamble loses.
Why Posture Decays:#
- Config drift: “temporary” exceptions become permanent; defaults change silently.
- Release velocity: schemas and behaviors evolve; rules lag behind.
- Human factors: rotations, handoffs, and cognitive overload introduce inconsistency.
Symptoms You’ll Recognize:#
- A rule praised during a tabletop misses the real incident six weeks later.
- QA runs pass, but the prod path includes an extra proxy or queue.
- Backlog grows; gaps identified in retros are not re‑tested after fixes.
Assumptions to Replace With Evidence:#
- “We have coverage for X” → Show replays and timestamps from last 7 days.
- “Latency is acceptable” → Show edge‑to‑alert distribution under stress.
- “Parsers are fine” → Show field completeness trend and drift alerts.
A Simple, Repeatable Model:#
1) Prioritize 10–15 adversary techniques tied to your crown jewels. 2) Automate replays on canaries daily; full estate weekly. 3) Collect coverage, MTTD, and precision; publish deltas and owners. 4) Inject small doses of chaos monthly (delay, drop, format tweaks). 5) When a fix ships, auto re‑run the exact test and attach proof to the ticket.
What Good Looks Like:#
- Gaps are found in practice, not in post‑mortems.
- Fixes come with proof and persist across deploys.
- Leaders see risk trendlines, not anecdotes.
Starting From Zero in 2 Weeks:#
- Week 1: select scenarios, build a tiny replay harness, wire health metrics.
- Week 2: schedule daily replays, publish the first coverage baseline, pick 3 fixes.
Where tools can help: If you want a pre‑built loop for replay, chaos, measurement, and automatic re‑validation, VanatorX can help. If not, the cadence above still works with a handful of scripts.