Compensating Controls: Maximizing Security with What You Already Have

By Emanuel Salmona – Co-founder & CEO

As a CEO in cybersecurity, I’ve had countless conversations with security leaders, and there’s one concept that keeps coming up — compensating controls. One of my good friends once said, “Don’t show me all the gaps and exposures if you’re not accounting for the compensating controls I’ve already put in place.” At first, I’ll admit, I didn’t fully get it. It sounded like a fair point, but how do we operationalize that concept? How do we take into account the security layers and strategies we’ve already implemented when we’re continuously bombarded with new findings and vulnerabilities?

In speaking with CISOs and security professionals over the past year, I’ve noticed that when I bring up compensating controls, their eyes tend to light up. It’s as if they’ve just been given permission to breathe a little easier. It’s one of those topics that’s often forgotten or, frankly, neglected because it’s just so hard to execute properly. But let’s take a step back, break it down, and explore why compensating controls are not only important but critical to a practical, balanced approach to cybersecurity.

What Are Compensating Controls?

At its core, compensating controls are security measures or safeguards put in place to mitigate risk when primary controls (like firewalls, encryption, or intrusion detection systems) are either ineffective, impractical, or not feasible for a given reason. These are your backup plans—your “safety net” that helps bridge the gap when the ideal security measures can’t be applied for some reason, like budget constraints, operational limitations, or legacy systems that can’t be easily replaced.

Think of it like this: If you can’t secure a particular system with the perfect security tool, you compensate by implementing other methods—like tighter access controls, enhanced monitoring, or even manual processes—that help reduce the risk.

In a world where cybersecurity is constantly evolving and the threat landscape changes by the day, compensating controls are essential. They allow you to maintain a strong security posture without needing to overhaul your entire infrastructure every time a new vulnerability is discovered.

Why Visibility Is Key

Here’s where it gets tricky. How can we have a comprehensive view of all security gaps and risks if we’re not properly considering all the compensating controls we’ve already put in place?

The key to effective compensating controls is context. Without it, you’re flying blind. Imagine trying to improve your security without even knowing what’s already working. Let’s break down the pyramid layers of compensation:

• Compensation at the security tools level means deploying multiple tools with overlapping capabilities to reinforce and cover each other’s strengths.
• Compensation at the controls level refers to two controls that mutually reinforce and support each other.
• Compensation at the scenario level means that if one control is weak, an additional effective control is implemented further along the attack chain to detect or block the attacker.

This is where many organizations fall short. They run scans, generate reports, and highlight gaps—but they fail to take into account that compensating controls might already be covering some of those gaps. This lack of visibility leads to unnecessary red flags, false positives, and wasted resources. Worse, it can create a false sense of urgency that drives decisions based on incomplete data.

To operationalize compensating controls, you need to not just understand the gaps, but also the existing safeguards in place. Without that insight, how can you possibly prioritize and remediate effectively?

How to Operationalize the Information for Remediation and Prioritization

The next step is where many organizations struggle: how do you actually use this context to drive action? How do you ensure that compensating controls are factored into your remediation efforts and help you prioritize effectively?

Here’s the truth: Compensating controls should not be an afterthought. They need to be integrated into your security workflow in a way that aligns with your broader risk management and remediation strategy.

Here’s how to approach it:

1. Identify and Document: First, make sure all compensating controls are clearly identified and documented. Whether it’s additional monitoring, multi-factor authentication, or stricter access policies, your team needs to have a clear understanding of the controls already in place.
2. Evaluate Effectiveness: Assess how well these compensating controls are working. Are they truly mitigating the risk they were meant to address, or are they just providing a false sense of security? Evaluating their effectiveness should be part of your ongoing risk assessments.
3. Prioritize Based on Real Risk: Rather than simply reacting to the latest alert or vulnerability, prioritize remediation based on real risk. If compensating controls are effectively addressing a gap, you may be able to delay or even avoid unnecessary remediation, which allows you to focus resources where they’re truly needed.
4. Integrate Into Your Workflow: Ensure that your compensating controls are built into your overall security management process. This includes integrating them into your risk dashboards, reporting systems, and even your automated remediation tools. You can’t afford to treat them as secondary or “in the background” — they need to be part of your strategic security plan.

How Nagomi Security Helps with Compensating Controls

At Nagomi Security, we understand that managing compensating controls isn’t easy. It’s not just about knowing what compensating controls exist, but about actively optimizing and operationalizing them to maintain a robust security posture.

Here’s how Nagomi helps:

1. Comprehensive Visibility: Our platform provides you with a complete view of your security landscape, integrating data from your existing tools and compensating controls. This ensures that your team has all the information needed to make informed decisions about risk and remediation.
2. Prioritized Remediation: With Nagomi, you can automate the prioritization of risks based on the effectiveness of your compensating controls. Our system evaluates compensating controls in real-time, helping you focus your resources on the most critical vulnerabilities.
3. Actionable Insights: Rather than just showing you the gaps, we give you prescriptive, actionable steps to take. We help you optimize your existing tools and compensating controls, so you’re not reinventing the wheel every time a new vulnerability is discovered.
4. Continuous Monitoring: Nagomi provides continuous visibility into the health and performance of your compensating controls. You’ll know if something’s slipping through the cracks, so you can quickly adjust before it turns into a problem.

The Bottom Line: Balancing the Investments You’ve Already Made

The reality is, cybersecurity is about balance. You can’t just keep buying new tools every time a gap is discovered. But you also can’t afford to overlook your existing investments. Compensating controls are a key part of that balance—they help you fill gaps without wasting resources.

By ensuring that compensating controls are fully visible, integrated, and continuously monitored, you can make smarter decisions, prioritize more effectively, and ultimately create a more resilient security posture.

At Nagomi Security, we’re committed to helping organizations get the most out of their existing security stack while addressing new risks. Together, we can stop worrying about gaps and start focusing on building the robust, adaptive security systems we all need.

Let’s chat about how we can help optimize your defenses and turn your compensating controls into your greatest asset. Request a demo today.