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Best practices for network security governance in AWS and hybrid network environments Webinars Overcoming the Hybrid Cloud Policy Management Challenge: A Panel Discussion Visibility May 27, 2020 Omer Ganot Product Manager Yonatan Klein irector of Product Management Relevant resources State of cloud security: Concerns, challenges, and incidents Read Document Demystifying Network Security in Hybrid Cloud Environments Keep Reading A Pragmatic Approach to Network Security Across Your Hybrid Cloud Environment Keep Reading Choose a better way to manage your network Choose a better way to manage your network Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

Protecting cloud-based applications and workloads requires robust security solutions such as CSPM, CIEM and CWPP. CNAPP tries to answer... Cloud Security CSPM vs. CNAPP: Which Solution to Choose? Rony Moshkovich 2 min read Rony Moshkovich Short bio about author here Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Vitae donec tincidunt elementum quam laoreet duis sit enim. Duis mattis velit sit leo diam. Tags Share this article 11/24/22 Published Protecting cloud-based applications and workloads requires robust security solutions such as CSPM, CIEM and CWPP. CNAPP tries to answer all 3 but how do you know which solution is right for your specific organization? Ava Chawla, AlgoSec’s Global Head of Cloud Security unravels the differences between them and shares her expert opinion on the solution that offers the most value for organizations. What is Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)? A CSPM tool monitors the logs and configuration files of the services you use in your cloud environment. It will scan the entire cloud environment to detect and prevent misconfiguration errors. This is important because configurations in the cloud happen quickly and just as quickly introduce new threats into the environment. For robust ongoing protection, you need to monitor the environment continuously and automatically. Here’s where CSPM comes in. The best CSPM solutions implement configuration best practices and automatically initiate corrective actions to remove risks, thus improving cloud security, ensuring adherence to compliance policies, and reducing the likelihood of breaches. Additionally, they are agentless, do not require long configuration, and don’t add to your cloud bills by utilizing additional cloud resources. What is Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM)? In cloud environments, identity goes beyond users and groups. It also plays a vital role in managing all the resources and services that need to access data. All these accesses happen very quickly and constitute a complex web of interactions. It’s crucial to know when and between whom these interactions occur to ensure that only legitimate resources can access or modify data. But as your cloud resources increase, the complexity of entitlements also grows. It’s not easy to keep track of these entitlements or to maintain the security-focused principle of least privilege (PoLP). CIEM tools are specialized identity-centric solutions to manage cloud access risk and govern entitlements in hybrid and multi-cloud environments. With CIEM, you can manage entitlements across all your cloud resources and maintain PoLP to mitigate the risk created by granting excessive permissions to cloud resources. What is a Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP)? CWPP solutions manage cloud applications and workloads. They can reach back into on- prem environments and thus effectively detect and prevent security problems like malware and vulnerabilities across the entire hybrid landscape. CWPP solutions can scale automatically and support your organization as your cloud environment grows or changes. What is a Cloud Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP)? Each of these solutions are geared towards a specific area of cloud security. CSPM prevents misconfiguration errors, CIEM platforms manage cloud access risks, and CWPP protects your assets and workloads. But what if you want a single solution that can completely manage the security of your cloud environment? Try a Cloud Native Application Protection Platform . CNAPP solutions combine security posture management, workload protection, and entitlement management into one single platform to provide comprehensive, holistic security across multi-cloud environments. Thus, you can protect your entire cloud estate with one solution instead of having to implement and manage multiple point solutions. Another advantage of a CNAPP tool is that it will enable you to “shift left”. Thus, you can not only secure applications in production environments, but also manage the runtime and DevOps aspects of security. For this reason, these platforms are aimed at both security professionals and DevOps practitioners. Conclusion and Next Steps A CNAPP solution is the most comprehensive solution. However, in today’s market there is no one tool that truly covers all the functionalities that CNAPP promises. Therefore, each organization should choose the solution that fits its immediate needs, including taking other considerations into account such as the skill level and the maturity of its cloud adoption. One important thing to remember: Regardless of the solution you choose, make sure it’s agentless. Agentless is important in today’s cloud security because agent-based solutions are hard to manage, expensive, and intrusive. If you’re looking for a modern agentless CSPM with container protection to safeguard your cloud-based application and workload data, then Prevasio might be the best option for you. Schedule a demo Related Articles Q1 at AlgoSec: What innovations and milestones defined our start to 2026? AlgoSec Reviews Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read 2025 in review: What innovations and milestones defined AlgoSec’s transformative year in 2025? AlgoSec Reviews Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read Navigating Compliance in the Cloud AlgoSec Cloud Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read Speak to one of our experts Speak to one of our experts Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Schedule a call

Explore Algosec's customer success stories to see how organizations worldwide improve security, compliance, and efficiency with our solutions. International Components Company Strengthens Network Security & Reduces Risks Organization Components Company Industry Retail & Manufacturing Headquarters International Download case study Share Customer
success stories "We quickly identified some unused rules, which we were able to safely remove. We're confident in the fact that we’re closing paths and we’ve also quickly managed to get compliance going,” says the company’s Head of Security Architecture." A leading international components company automates security policy change management and eliminates duplicate rules. BACKGROUND The company is a leading company specializing in high–performance components and sub-systems for the aerospace, defense, and energy markets. Backed by over a century of expertise, the company deliver solutions for the most challenging environments, enabling safe, cost-effective flight, power, and defense systems. CHALLENGE The company’s firewalls were growing consistently. There had not been enough insight and analysis into their network over the years, leading to a bloated and redundant network infrastructure. Firewalls and infrastructure did not get the care and attention they needed. Some of their challenges included: Legacy firewalls that had not been adequately maintained. Unused or overly permissive rules, which left open many security holes. Difficulty identifying and quantifying network risk. Change requests for functionality already covered by existing rules. SOLUTION The client searched for a vendor that understood their environment and challenges and could integrate into their existing solutions. They would need to offer: Faster implementation of firewall changes. Comprehensive firewall support. Automation of security policy change management. Visibility into their business applications and traffic flows. They implemented the AlgoSec Security Policy Management Solution, made up of AlgoSec Horizon Security Analyzer and AlgoSec Horizon FireFlow. AlgoSec Horizon Security Analyzer ensures security and compliance by providing visibility and analysis into complex network security policies. AlgoSec Horizon FireFlow improves security and saves security staffs’ time by automating the entire security policy change process, eliminating manual errors, and reducing risk. RESULTS By using the AlgoSec Security Management Solution, the customer gained: Greater insight and oversight into their firewalls and other network devices. Identification of risky rules and other holes in their network security policy. Audits and accountability into their network security policy changes. They were able to ensure ongoing compliance and make sure that rules submitted did not introduce additional risk. Identification and elimination of duplicate rules. The customer is also impressed with the dedicated attention they receive from AlgoSec. AlgoSec’s support team is familiar with their challenges and provides attention tailored to their exact needs. Schedule time with one of our experts

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As with all cloud vendors, AWS users share responsibility for securing their infrastructure against risk. Amazon provides the tools you... AWS Security group architecture for AWS: How to overcome security group limits Prof. Avishai Wool 2 min read Prof. Avishai Wool Short bio about author here Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Vitae donec tincidunt elementum quam laoreet duis sit enim. Duis mattis velit sit leo diam. Tags Share this article 8/9/23 Published As with all cloud vendors, AWS users share responsibility for securing their infrastructure against risk. Amazon provides the tools you need to filter traffic, but configuring those tools is up to you. Firewalls are one of the tools you’ll use to filter traffic and secure Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) instances. Instead of using traditional firewalls, Amazon provides users with AWS security groups, which are flexible, stateful firewalls capable of filtering inbound and outbound traffic. However, there are limits to what you can do with AWS security groups. First, they only allow traffic – you can’t configure them to deny traffic. Second, the maximum number of rules you can set for a single group is 60. This isn’t a big issue for an Amazon EC2 instance designed to address inbound traffic. You’ll either want your AWS EC2 to accept ingress from the entire internet or you’ll want to configure access for a few internal IP addresses. But for outbound traffic, 60 rules simply isn’t enough. You’ll use a dozen of them just allowing access to GitHub’s API . Add in a few third-party partners and you’re already well past the limit. Amazon VPC resource limits explained Amazon sets clear limits on the AWS services and resources it makes available to users. In some cases, you can increase these limits by contacting AWS support. These limits are generally assessed on a per-Region basis. Here are some of the limits Amazon places on AWS users: Security group limits 2500 VPC security groups per Region 60 IPv4 rules per security group 60 IPv6 rules per security group 5 security groups per network interface VPC and subnet limits 5 VPCs per Region 200 Subnets per VPC 5 IPv4 CIDR blocks per VPC 5 IPv6 CIDR blocks per VPC Limits to elastic IP addresses and gateways 5 Elastic IP addresses per Region 2 Elastic IP Addresses per public NAT gateway 5 Egress-only internet gateways per Region 5 NAT gateways per Availability Zone One carrier gateway per VPC Prefix list limits 100 prefix lists per Region 1000 versions per prefix list 5000 prefix list references per resource type Network ACL limits 200 Network ACLs per VPC 20 Rules per Network ACL How to manage AWS cloud security group limits effectively Traditional firewalls may have thousands of security rules, including a complex combination of inbound rules and egress filters. Crucially, they can also enforce outbound rules that include denying traffic – something Amazon does not allow regular security groups to do. While AWS offers powerful tools for securing cloud workflows, Amazon VPC users must find ways to overcome these limitations. Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to achieve exactly that. Optimize your VPC security groups. Use Network Access Control Lists to secure assets at the subnet level. Use a domain name filtering system that reduces the number of IP addresses security group rules need to resolve. Optimize your Amazon virtual private cloud configuration Amazon VPC is a virtual network that contains many of the elements you’d expect from a traditional network. It has IP addresses, route tables, subnets, and internet gateways. Unlike a traditional network, you can easily configure many of your VPC environment through a command line interface (CLI). You can establish VPC peering connections, implement identity and access management (IAM) protocols, and configure elastic network interfaces without manually handling any hardware. But first, you need to set up and protect your VPC by setting up and configuring security groups. If you don’t specify a particular group, Amazon EC2 will use the default security group. If you haven’t added new security groups since creating your AWS account, you may only have that one default security group. The first step to optimizing security is expanding the number of security groups you have available. Here’s an example of the code you can use to create a new security group in the AWS console:aws ec2 create-security-group –group-name web-pci-sg –description “allow SSL traffic” –vpc-id vpc-555666777 This creates a new group named web-pci-sg and describes it as a group designed to allow SSL traffic on the network. Remember that security groups don’t support deny rules. Here is the code you would use to add a rule to that group: aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress \ –group-name web-pci-sg \ –protocol https \–port 443 \ –cidr This rule specifically allows SSL traffic using the HTTPS protocol to use port 443, which is the standard port for HTTPS traffic. You can use the last argument to specify the cidr block the rule will direct traffic through. This gives you the ability to manage traffic through specific subnets, which is important for the next step. This example focuses on just one type of rule in one context. To take full advantage of the security tools AWS makes available, you’ll want to create custom rules for endpoints, load balancers, nat gateways, and more. Although you’re limited to 60 rules per security group, creating many groups lets you assign hundreds of rules to any particular instance. Security architecture and network ACLs Network Access Control Lists provide AWS users with additional filtering capabilities. Network ACLs are similar to security groups in many ways, but come with a few key differences: Network ACLs can contain deny rules. You can write Network ACL rules to include explicit actions, like blocking particular IP addresses or routing VPN users in a specific way. Network ACLs are enforced at the subnet level. This means they apply to every instance in the subnet, in addition to whatever rules exist at the security group level. As mentioned above, each Network ACL can contain up to 20 rules. However, you can have up to 200 Network ACLs per VPC, which gives you a total of 4000 potential rules. Along with instance-specific security group rules, this offers much more flexibility for setting up robust AWS security architecture. Since Network ACLs can deny traffic, they are a useful tool for managing access to databases and other sensitive assets. For example, you may wish to exclude users who don’t have the appropriate permissions from your Amazon RDS instance. You may also want to filter SSH (Secure Shell) connections coming from unknown sources, or limit connections between different internal instance types. To do this effectively, you need to group these assets under the same subnet and make sure that the appropriate rules are enabled for all of them. You can also write asset-specific rules at the security group level, ensuring every asset has its own optimal configuration. The larger your AWS environment is, the more complex this process may become. Take care to avoid misconfigurations – it’s very easy to accidentally write security group rules and Network ACL rules that aren’t compatible, or that cause problems when you access the instance. To avoid this, try to condense your rules as much as possible. Avoid limits by filtering domain names directly Although you can create a large number of rules by creating additional security groups, you still may want to add more than 60 rules in a single group. There are many scenarios where this makes more sense than arbitrarily adding (and managing) new groups. For example, you might have a production instance that needs updates from several third-party partners. You also need to periodically change and update the technologies this instance relies on, so you’d like to keep its rules in a single security group. This reduces misconfiguration risk by keeping all the relevant rules in one place – not spread out across multiple groups. To overcome this limit, you need to reduce the number of IP addresses that the security group filters. You can do this by deploying a third-party solution that allows security rules to perform DNS resolution. This eliminates the need for AWS to resolve the domain name. Since AWS security groups can’t compute domain names on their own, you’ll need to deploy a third-party NAT gateway on your public VPC to filter outbound traffic in this way. Once you do this, you can write rules that filter outgoing connections based on their domain name. This effectively bypasses the 60 IP limit because you are not referring to specific IP addresses. At the same time, it simplifies management and makes rules much easier to read and understand. Instead of looking up and adding all of Github’s API IP addresses, you can write rules that reference the domain “Github.com”. If Github decides to change its IP infrastructure, your security rules will automatically reference the new addresses – you won’t have to go back and update them. The earlier you address AWS security group limits, the better There is an unlimited number of ways you can arrange your security groups and Network ACLs. Even in a small environment, the prospect may seem daunting. However, the flexibility Amazon provides to its cloud users is a valuable security feature. Those who go the process enjoy clear security performance benefits. If you start to planning for the architecture of your security and filtering policies early, you’ll be better equipped to scale those policies upwards as your organization grows. This will prevent security processes from becoming a growth bottleneck and maintain a high level of efficiency even as those policies become larger and more complex. See me explain this issue in person in my new whiteboard video: Schedule a demo Related Articles Q1 at AlgoSec: What innovations and milestones defined our start to 2026? AlgoSec Reviews Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read 2025 in review: What innovations and milestones defined AlgoSec’s transformative year in 2025? AlgoSec Reviews Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read Navigating Compliance in the Cloud AlgoSec Cloud Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read Speak to one of our experts Speak to one of our experts Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Schedule a call

Discover five essential tips for securing your network in 2021 with Algosec's network security experts. Webinars 5 power tips to keep your network secure in 2021 No one could have predicted how unpredictable 2020 would be, so we’re here to help you get prepared for whatever is in store in 2021. No matter what happens in the upcoming year – there are five things you can do now to keep your network secure in 2021. Join network security experts Jade Kahn and Asher Benbenisty, and learn how to: Never fly blind: Ensure visibility across your entire hybrid network Do more with less: Accelerate digital transformation & avoid misconfigurations with automation Stay continuously compliant Fight ransomware with micro-segmentation Accelerate in the cloud January 13, 2021 Jade Kahn CMO Asher Benbenisty Director of product marketing Relevant resources 5 Network Security Management Predictions for 2020 Watch Video Choose a better way to manage your network Choose a better way to manage your network Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

Explore Algosec's customer success stories to see how organizations worldwide improve security, compliance, and efficiency with our solutions. Dimension Data Enhances Delivery Of Managed Security Services With AlgoSec Organization DIMENSION DATA Industry Technology Headquarters Australia Download case study Share Customer
success stories "We were fortunate enough to get a double benefit from using AlgoSec in our environment — reducing costs to serve our clients, and expanding our service offerings" IT Solution Provider Streamlines and Automates Security Operations for Clients AlgoSec Business Impact Generate incremental revenue from new policy compliance management services Reduce cost of service for Managed Security Service offering Improve quality of service, assuring a direct and timely response to security issues Background Dimension Data, founded in 1983 and headquartered in Africa, provides global specialized IT services and solutions to help their clients plan, build, support and manage their IT infrastructures. The company serves over 6,000 clients in 58 countries and in all major industry verticals. Dimension Data serves 79% of the Global Fortune Top 100 and 63% of the Global Fortune 500. Challenge In an effort to bring greater efficiency and flexibility, Dimension Data Australia sought to apply security industry best practices and streamlined processes to its delivery methodology. Automation was identified as a key capability that would enable them to reduce service costs and increase quality of service. “The operational management of security infrastructure is quite labor intensive,” remarks Martin Schlatter, Security Services Product Manager at Dimension Data. “The principle reasons for automating managed services are reducing work time, freeing up people for other tasks, and leveraging expertise that is ‘built in’ the automated tool.” By doing this Dimension Data could offer better service to existing clients while expanding their client base. “Additionally, the increased appetite for the Managed Security Services offering has been fueled by an increasing focus on governance, risk management and compliance, and we are expected to deliver faster and more accurate visibility of the security and compliance posture of the network,” explains Schlatter. Solution Dimension Data selected the AlgoSec Security Management Solution as a part of their toolset to deliver their Managed Security Services, which include automated and fully integrated operational management of client security infrastructures. The intelligent automation at the heart of AlgoSec will enable Dimension Data’s team to easily and effectively perform change monitoring, risk assessment, compliance verification and policy optimization for their clients, and act upon the findings quickly. This includes getting rid of unused or obsolete rules in the policy, reordering rules to increase performance and identifying risky rules. Another key factor in the decision making process was the relationship between Dimension Data and AlgoSec. “AlgoSec was deemed most suitable to meet our delivery needs for Managed Services. We selected them for their specific technology fit, and flexibility to assist in growing our managed service business. The partnership element was eventually the overriding factor,” says Schlatter. Results With AlgoSec, Dimension Data is now able to deliver their clients a comprehensive view of the security posture of their network security devices. This is crucial to establishing a baseline understanding of a security network, which makes it possible to truly assess and remediate risks, errors and inefficiencies. The ability to automatically provide this type of information at the most accurate level provides a key competitive differentiator for the company and a large benefit for its clients. “The value-added contribution is saving time, in terms of automation,” remarked Schlatter. “We found a way to reduce costs by automating manual operational tasks. At the same time, we were fortunate enough to leverage AlgoSec to expand our service offerings, so we got a double benefit from using AlgoSec in our environment.” One of the major features of integrating AlgoSec into the Dimension Data solution is the ability to support multiple client domains from a single AlgoSec management console. “This scalable configuration has proven to be invaluable when managing multiple clients with complex multi-vendor, multi-device security environments,” says Schlatter. “It consolidates administrative tasks, cuts time and costs, and ensures proper administration and segregation of duties from our end.” AlgoSec enhances the Managed Security Services offerings by delivering comprehensive risk and compliance management. Dimension Data professionals can generate risk and audit-ready compliance reports in a fraction of the time and with much greater accuracy compared to traditional manual analysis. “Our clients who require ISO 27001 and PCI DSS accreditation have greatly benefitted from this,” said Schlatter. Schedule time with one of our experts

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CIS provides best practices to help companies like yours improve their cloud security posture. You’ll protect your systems against... Cloud Security What is CIS Compliance? (and How to Apply CIS Benchmarks) Rony Moshkovich 2 min read Rony Moshkovich Short bio about author here Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Vitae donec tincidunt elementum quam laoreet duis sit enim. Duis mattis velit sit leo diam. Tags Share this article 6/20/23 Published CIS provides best practices to help companies like yours improve their cloud security posture. You’ll protect your systems against various threats by complying with its benchmark standards. This post will walk you through CIS benchmarks, their development, and the kinds of systems they apply to. We will also discuss the significance of CIS compliance and how Prevasio may help you achieve it. What are CIS benchmarks? CIS stands for Center for Internet Security . It’s a nonprofit organization that aims to improve companies’ cybersecurity readiness and response. Founded in 2000, the CIS comprises cybersecurity experts from diverse backgrounds. They have the common goal of enhancing cybersecurity resilience and reducing security threats. CIS compliance means adhering to the Center for Internet Security (CIS) benchmarks. CIS benchmarks are best practices and guidelines to help you build a robust cloud security strategy. These CIS benchmarks give a detailed road map for protecting a business’s IT infrastructure. They also encompass various platforms, such as web servers or cloud bases. The CIS benchmarks are frequently called industry standards. They are normally in line with other regulatory organizations, such as ISO, NIST, and HIPAA. Many firms adhere to CIS benchmarks to ensure they follow industry standards. They also do this to show their dedication to cybersecurity to clients and stakeholders. The CIS benchmarks and CIS controls are always tested through on-premises analysis by leading security firms. This ensures that CIS releases standards that are effective at mitigating cyber risks. How are the CIS benchmarks developed? A community of cybersecurity professionals around the world cooperatively develops CIS benchmarks. They exchange their knowledge, viewpoints, and experiences on a platform provided by CIS. The end result is consensus-based best practices that will protect various IT systems. The CIS benchmark development process typically involves the following steps: 1. Identify the technology: The first step is to identify the system or technology that has to be protected. This encompasses a range of applications. It can be an operating system, database, web server, or cloud environment. 2. Define the scope: The following stage is to specify the benchmark’s parameters. It involves defining what must be implemented for the technology to be successfully protected. They may include precise setups, guidelines, and safeguards. 3. Develop recommendations: Next, a community of cybersecurity experts will identify ideas for safeguarding the technology. These ideas are usually based on current best practices, norms, and guidelines. They may include the minimum security requirements and measures to be taken. 4. Expert consensus review: Thereafter, a broader group of experts and stakeholders assess the ideas. They will offer comments and suggestions for improvement. This level aims to achieve consensus on the appropriate technical safeguards. 5. Pilot testing: The benchmark is then tested in a real-world setting. At this point, CIS aims to determine its efficacy and spot any problems that need fixing. 6. Publication and maintenance: The CIS will publish the benchmark once it has been improved and verified. The benchmark will constantly be evaluated and updated to keep it current and useful for safeguarding IT systems. What are the CIS benchmark levels? CIS benchmarks are divided into three levels based on the complexity of an IT system. It’s up to you to choose the level you need based on the complexity of your IT environment. Each level of the benchmarks offers better security recommendations than the previous level. The following are the distinct categories that benchmarks are divided into: Level 1 This is the most basic level of CIS standards. It requires organizations to set basic security measures to reduce cyber threats. Some CIS guidelines at this level include password rules, system hardening, and risk management. The level 1 CIS benchmarks are ideal for small businesses with basic IT systems. Level 2 This is the intermediate level of the CIS benchmarks. It is suitable for small to medium businesses that have complex IT systems. The Level 2 CIS standards offer greater security recommendations to your cloud platform. It has guidelines for network segmentation, authentication, user permissions, logging, and monitoring. At this level, you’ll know where to focus your remediation efforts if you spot a vulnerability in your system. Level 2 also covers data protection topics like disaster recovery plans and encryption. Level 3 Level 3 is the most advanced level of the CIS benchmarks. It offers the highest security recommendations compared to the other two. Level 3 also offers the Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) profiles for companies. STIG are configuration guidelines developed by the Defense Information Systems Agency. These security standards help you meet US government requirements. This level is ideal for large organizations with the most sensitive and vital data. These are companies that must protect their IT systems from complex security threats. It offers guidelines for real-time security analytics, safe cloud environment setups, and enhanced threat detection. What types of systems do CIS benchmarks apply to? The CIS benchmarks are applicable to many IT systems used in a cloud environment. The following are examples of systems that CIS benchmarks can apply to: Operating systems: CIS benchmarks offer standard secure configurations for common operating systems, including Amazon Linux, Windows Servers, macOS, and Unix. They address network security, system hardening, and managing users and accounts. Cloud infrastructure: CIS benchmarks can help protect various cloud infrastructures, including public, private, and multi-cloud. They recommend guidelines that safeguard cloud systems by various cloud service providers. For example, network security, access restrictions, and data protection. The benchmarks cover cloud systems such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, IBM, Oracle, and Google Cloud Platform. Server software: CIS benchmarks provide secure configuration baselines for various servers, including databases (SQL), DNS, Web, and authentication servers. The baselines cover system hardening, patch management, and access restrictions. Desktop software: Desktop apps such as music players, productivity programs, and web browsers can be weak points in your IT system. CIS benchmarks offer guidelines to help you protect your desktop software from vulnerabilities. They may include patch management, user and account management, and program setup. Mobile devices: The CIS benchmarks recommend safeguarding endpoints such as tablets and mobile devices. The standards include measures for data protection, account administration, and device configuration. Network devices: CIS benchmarks also involve network hardware, including switches, routers, and firewalls. Some standards for network devices include access restrictions, network segmentation, logging, and monitoring. Print devices: CIS benchmarks also cover print devices like printers and scanners. The CIS benchmark baselines include access restrictions, data protection, and firmware upgrades. Why is CIS compliance important? CIS compliance helps you maintain secure IT systems. It does this by helping you adhere to globally recognized cybersecurity standards. CIS benchmarks cover various IT systems and product categories, such as cloud infrastructures. So by ensuring CIS benchmark compliance, you reduce the risk of cyber threats to your IT systems. Achieving CIS compliance has several benefits: 1. Your business will meet internationally accepted cybersecurity standards . The CIS standards are developed through a consensus review process. This means they are founded on the most recent threat intelligence and best practices. So you can rely on the standards to build a solid foundation for securing your IT infrastructure. 2. It can help you meet regulatory compliance requirements for other important cybersecurity frameworks . CIS standards can help you prove that you comply with other industry regulations. This is especially true for companies that handle sensitive data or work in regulated sectors. CIS compliance is closely related to other regulatory compliances such as NIST, HIPAA, and PCI DSS. By implementing the CIS standards, you’ll conform to the applicable industry regulations. 3. Achieving CIS continuous compliance can help you lower your exposure to cybersecurity risks . In the process, safeguard your vital data and systems. This aids in preventing data breaches, malware infections, and other cyberattacks. Such incidents could seriously harm your company’s operations, image, and financial situation. A great example is the Scottish Oil giant, SSE. It had to pay €10M in penalties for failing to comply with a CIS standard in 2013. 4. Abiding by the security measures set by CIS guidelines can help you achieve your goals faster as a business. The guidelines cover the most important and frequently attacked areas of IT infrastructure. 5. CIS compliance enhances your general security posture. It also decreases the time and resources needed to maintain security. It does this by providing uniform security procedures across various platforms. How to achieve CIS compliance? Your organization can achieve CIS compliance by conforming to the guidelines of the CIS benchmarks and CIS controls. Each CIS benchmark usually includes a description of a recommended configuration. It also usually contains a justification for the implementation of the configuration. Finally, it offers step-by-step instructions on how to carry out the recommendation manually. While the standards may seem easy to implement manually, they may consume your time and increase the chances of human errors. That is why most security teams prefer using tools to automate achieving and maintaining CIS compliance. CIS hardened images are great examples of CIS compliance automation tools. They are pre-configured images that contain all the necessary recommendations from CIS benchmarks. You can be assured of maintaining compliance by using these CIS hardened images in your cloud environment. You can also use CSPM tools to automate achieving and maintaining CIS compliance. Cloud Security Posture Management tools automatically scan for vulnerabilities in your cloud. They then offer detailed instructions on how to fix those issues effectively. This way, your administrators don’t have to go through the pain of doing manual compliance checks. You save time and effort by working with a CSPM tool. Use Prevasio to monitor CIS compliance. Prevasio is a cloud-native application platform (CNAPP) that can help you achieve and maintain CIS compliance in various setups, including Azure, AWS, and GCP. A CNAPP is basically a CSPM tool on steroids. It combines the features of CSPM, CIEM, IAM, and CWPP tools into one solution. This means you’ll get clearer visibility of your cloud environment from one platform. Prevasio constantly assesses your system against the latest version of CIS benchmarks. It then generates reports showing areas that need adjustments to keep your cloud security cyber threat-proof. This saves you time as you won’t have to do the compliance checks manually. Prevasio also has a robust set of features to help you comply with standards from other regulatory bodies. So using this CSPM tool, you’ll automatically comply with HIPAA, PCI DSS, and GDPR. Prevasio offers strong vulnerability evaluation and management capabilities besides CIS compliance monitoring. It uses cutting-edge scanning algorithms to find known flaws, incorrect setups, and other security problems in IT settings. This can help you identify and fix vulnerabilities before fraudsters can exploit them. The bottom line on CIS compliance Achieving and maintaining CIS compliance is essential in today’s continually changing threat landscape . However, doing the compliance checks manually takes time. You may not also spot weaknesses in your cloud security in time. This means that you need to automate your CIS compliance. And what better solution than a cloud security posture management tool like Prevasio? Prevasio is the ideal option for observing compliance and preventing malware that attack surfaces in cloud assets. Prevasio offers a robust security platform to help you achieve CIS compliance and maintain a secure IT environment. This platform is agentless, meaning it doesn’t run on the cloud like most of its competitors. So you save a lot in costs every time Prevasio runs a scan. Prevaiso also conducts layer analysis. It helps you spot the exact line of code where the problem is rather than give a general area. In the process, saving you time spent identifying and solving critical threats. Try Prevasio today! Schedule a demo Related Articles Q1 at AlgoSec: What innovations and milestones defined our start to 2026? AlgoSec Reviews Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read 2025 in review: What innovations and milestones defined AlgoSec’s transformative year in 2025? AlgoSec Reviews Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read Navigating Compliance in the Cloud AlgoSec Cloud Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read Speak to one of our experts Speak to one of our experts Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Schedule a call

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