:_mod-docs-content-type: ASSEMBLY
[id="understanding-compliance-operator"]
= Understanding the Compliance Operator
include::_attributes/common-attributes.adoc[]
:context: understanding-compliance

toc::[]

[role="_abstract"]
You can use Compliance Operator profiles to select the appropriate compliance benchmarks for your {product-title} environment. Profiles target platform components, node configurations, or both depending on the compliance standard you need to meet.

The Compliance Operator lets {product-title} administrators describe the required compliance state of a cluster and provides them with an overview of gaps and ways to remediate them. The Compliance Operator assesses compliance of both the Kubernetes API resources of {product-title}, as well as the nodes running the cluster. The Compliance Operator uses OpenSCAP, a NIST-certified tool, to scan and enforce security policies provided by the content.

[IMPORTANT]
====
The Compliance Operator is available for {op-system-first} deployments only.
====

include::modules/compliance-profiles.adoc[leveloffset=+1]

[role="_additional-resources"]
.Additional resources

* link:https://www.cyber.gov.au/acsc/view-all-content/publications/hardening-linux-workstations-and-servers[ACSC Essential Eight - Hardening Linux Workstations and Servers]
* link:https://www.open-scap.org/[OpenSCAP project]
* link:https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/security-content-automation-protocol[NIST Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP)]

include::modules/compliance-profile-types.adoc[leveloffset=+1]