As your organization scales, so does the complexity of your IT and security configurations. More groups, policies, network boundaries, location-based rules, and origin settings get added over time. While these configurations are essential for enabling secure and efficient operations, they are rarely cleaned or reviewed, leading to the accumulation of configuration tech debt - unused or redundant configurations that accumulate in your system, all those old groups, outdated policies, and obsolete rules that no longer serve a purpose. These artifacts might not seem problematic at first, but they can have serious consequences for your organization.

Why should you care about configuration tech debt?

Tech debt can lead to a host of operational inefficiencies and risks:

• Misconfigurations: With unused or redundant configurations in your system, it’s easy to mistakenly assign the wrong group or network zone to a policy. This can weaken security and lead to errors that are hard to debug.
• Increased attack surface: Unused configurations, especially those tied to permissions or access policies, can create security vulnerabilities if overlooked.
• Operational inefficiency: The more bloated your configuration becomes, the harder it is for IT and security teams to maintain and manage it effectively.
• Compliance risk: If your organization is subject to audits, outdated configurations may raise questions about the robustness of your policies and controls.

In short, cleaning up tech debt is essential for maintaining a secure, efficient, and compliant environment.

How Salto helps detect and resolve configuration tech debt

1. Easily detect unused configurations

Salto’s "configuration-as-code"-like platform simplifies configuration management by providing full visibility, cross-environment analysis, actionable insights and remediation packages. Supporting tools like Okta, Microsoft Entra Id and Intune, Jamf Pro, and Crowdstrike Falcon, Salto makes cleaning up tech debt an effortless, repeatable process. Here’s how:

Salto automatically scans your configurations and identifies items that are not being referenced. For example, in IAM platforms like Okta, Salto highlights groups, policies, or zones that have no dependencies. These unused configurations can often be safely retired.

Example: In the screenshot below, the group “GWR Sales” has no dependencies, meaning it isn’t referenced by any policies, applications, or rules. This makes it a prime candidate for deletion.

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2. Understand what is in use

In contrast, Salto also identifies configurations that are in use and shows exactly where they’re referenced. For example, the screenshot below shows a group that’s actively used by an application, an authentication policy, and a group rule. Such visibility prevents accidental deletions of critical configurations.

3. Cross-environment analysis

Salto lets you compare configurations across multiple environments, so you can spot inconsistencies, redundant configurations, or unnecessary duplication. For example, you might find duplicate policies in different Okta tenants or overlapping device rules in Intune.

4. Safeguard your cleanup with rollback capabilities

Mistakes happen during cleanup efforts, but with Salto, you can protect against unintended consequences. Create a snapshot of your tenant before making changes, allowing you to quickly restore configurations if needed. This ensures a safe and reliable cleanup process every time.

Configuration tech debt isn’t just an IT problem - it’s a business problem. Left unchecked, it can create security vulnerabilities, operational inefficiencies, and compliance risks. Salto gives you the tools to identify, manage, and eliminate tech debt.

Start a free trial or book a demo, and take control of your configurations, detect unused items, promote consistent configurations, and ensure your environment is clean, secure, and efficient.

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