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Continuous Monitoring

What is Continuous Monitoring?

The ongoing awareness of information security, vulnerabilities, and threats to support organisational risk management decisions. Required by NIST SP 800-137 and recommended by most security frameworks.

Compliance

Each of these is named in at least one of the same controls as continuous monitoring. The number is how many controls name both.

What the standards actually require on continuous monitoring

Requirements naming continuous monitoring across 6 standards, quoted from the control text.

Continuous Monitoring + Lifecycle Management is essential to ongoing trustworthy AI per Japan AI Guidelines for Business + integrates Safety + Accountability + Transparency Principles + addresses post-deployment risks.

JP-AIG-Continuous-Monitoring-Lifecycle-Model-Evaluation-Performance-Drift-Post-Deployment · Japan AI Guidelines Continuous Monitoring + AI System Lifecycle Management + Model Evaluation + Performance Drift + Concept Drift + Post-Deployment + Retraining Triggers + Safe Update + Decommissioning + Model Card Versioning
NIST SP 800-374 controls

Execute the Monitor step per NIST SP 800-37 Rev 2 Chapter 3 Step 7. Maintain ongoing situational awareness of the security and privacy posture of the system to support risk management decisions.

NISTSP37-7 · RMF Monitor Step: Continuous Monitoring and Ongoing Authorisation
FedRAMP Rev 53 controls

Continuous Monitoring (ConMon) is the post-authorization monitoring + reporting regime. Required activities: (a) MONTHLY vulnerability scanning + reporting via FedRAMP secure reporting portal; (b) MONTHLY POA&M update;

FedRAMP-ConMon · Continuous Monitoring (ConMon) and Significant Change Requests

Requires a system-level continuous monitoring strategy aligned to the organizational one, defining the metrics monitored, the frequencies for monitoring and for assessing control effectiveness, ongoing control assessment, correlation and analysis of the result...

NIST800-CA-7 · Continuous monitoring

Develop an organization-wide continuous monitoring strategy and implement continuous monitoring programs.

PM-31 · Continuous Monitoring Strategy

Develop an organization-wide continuous monitoring strategy and implement continuous monitoring programs.

PM-31 · Continuous Monitoring Strategy

Questions people ask about continuous monitoring

What is Continuous Monitoring?
The ongoing awareness of information security, vulnerabilities, and threats to support organisational risk management decisions. Required by NIST SP 800-137 and recommended by most security frameworks.
Why is Continuous Monitoring important for compliance?
Continuous Monitoring is a key concept in Compliance. Understanding continuous monitoring helps organizations meet regulatory requirements, reduce risk, and demonstrate due diligence during audits. Our compliance platform maps 686 frameworks with 311K cross-framework control mappings.
Which compliance frameworks address Continuous Monitoring?
Continuous Monitoring appears in the requirement text of Japan AI Guidelines, NIST SP 800-37, FedRAMP Rev 5, NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5, NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 LOW. Across these standards we have identified 20 controls that name it directly, each linked to the control text on the compliance platform.
Where can I learn more about Continuous Monitoring?
Explore our compliance framework pages to see how continuous monitoring applies across different standards and regulations. Our implementation guides provide step-by-step guidance, and the compliance platform offers AI-powered analysis of how this concept maps across 686 frameworks.

See how Continuous Monitoring applies across compliance frameworks

Our platform maps 686 frameworks with 311K cross-framework control mappings. Explore how this concept is addressed across standards.

Written and maintained by Gerard Blokdyk, The Art of Service.