How Is Your GRC Product Getting Its Data?
Don't let compliance theater cloud your governance.
If you're an MSSP or enterprise trying to deliver meaningful cloud governance, here's a question you need to ask — and answer honestly:
How is your GRC product getting its data?
Because in most cases, the answer is:
From someone else’s tool. With someone else’s logic. Based on someone else’s idea of what matters.
The Aggregation Trap
Most modern GRC tools don’t actually govern anything. They aggregate. They ingest result data from scanners, CSPM tools, ticketing systems, and cloud APIs — and roll it all into a clean dashboard. Maybe they correlate a few things. Maybe they help you generate reports. But what they don’t do is let you define the logic, the data structure, or the policy intent behind what’s being ingested.
You're not in control of what’s being looked at — you’re only seeing the after-the-fact interpretation.
Whose Logic Is Governing Your Cloud?
When you rely on third-party data streams, you're inheriting someone else's model:
Someone else decided what counts as a violation.
Someone else decided how to structure the data.
Someone else decided what context mattered.
And your GRC tool? It likely won’t let you change much. Maybe you can tweak thresholds or group findings differently — but the foundational logic is locked down. You're working inside someone else's black box.
What That Means in Practice
This model leads to:
Shallow visibility. You’re only seeing data someone else surfaced. Silent gaps are invisible.
Endless exceptions. The findings don’t map to your policies, so you override, suppress, or ignore.
Policy drift. You say you want X, but you’re measuring Y — because that’s what the pipeline gives you.
Lack of accountability. You can’t trace enforcement logic or outcomes back to your intent.
And maybe worst of all: no ability to improve. You can’t refine your model, because it’s not your model.
What Real Governance Looks Like
Real governance means being able to say:
“We define what matters.”
“We shape the data we ingest.”
“Our policies reflect our priorities, not someone else’s.”
“We monitor what we care about — and we evolve that continuously.”
That’s only possible with a customizable governance platform — one that gives you control over your data model, your policies, and your enforcement logic.
Not a passive aggregator.
Not a dashboard layered on top of other dashboards.
A governance system built from your logic and your data structures.
Ask the Question
If you’re an MSSP or security team evaluating tools:
👉 Ask how they get their data.
👉 Ask who defines the policy logic.
👉 Ask whether you can shape the model to fit your domain.
If the answer is “No, but we have a lot of integrations,” then what you’re getting isn’t governance.
It’s someone else’s judgment — piped into your dashboard.