By Hemant Baidwan
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is considering a change that will make a lot of security teams uneasy, and for good reason.
https://www.csoonline.com/article/4167422/cisa-mulls-new-three-day-remediation-deadline-for-critical-flaws.html
Today, federal agencies usually have about two weeks to fix critical vulnerabilities in the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. The proposal cuts that down to just three days.
It sounds aggressive because it is. Patching is not just an update button. It requires testing, dependency checks, and making sure production stays stable. Compressing that into 72 hours will stretch most teams.
But the reality is simple. Attackers are moving faster than defenders. The gap between disclosure and exploitation keeps shrinking, sometimes to hours.
This is forcing a shift in how security operates. Detection and ticketing alone will not keep up. Teams need to operationalize risk in real time. That means understanding exposure immediately, identifying attack paths, and taking action to reduce risk fast. Sometimes that is patching. Other times it is applying compensating controls like blocking access, tightening identity, or isolating systems to cut off pathways.
Automation is what makes this possible. Not just faster patching, but connecting tools so risk signals turn into action quickly. The goal is to reduce exposure first, even if full remediation follows.
This is not a nice-to-have anymore. It is becoming the baseline. I am excited that Knox AI is pushing towards more self-driving infrastructure, using AI to assess contextual risk, plan changes, and execute remediation with human approval in the loop.
Whether this becomes policy or not, the direction is clear. Security teams need to operate in days, not weeks.
