How to Achieve CIS Compliance for AWS EC2

What is CIS Compliance?

CIS (Center for Internet Security) Compliance refers to the adherence to security best practices outlined by the CIS, a nonprofit organization that develops globally recognized security standards. These best practices are known as CIS Controls and CIS Benchmarks, which provide guidelines for securing various technologies and systems, including operating systems, cloud services, network devices, and software.

Key Aspects of CIS Compliance

• Implementation of Controls: Start by implementing the CIS Controls relevant to your organization's size and risk profile.
• Use CIS Benchmarks: Configure your systems and applications according to CIS Benchmarks.
• Regular Audits: Continuously monitor and audit your systems to ensure ongoing compliance with CIS recommendations.
• Automation Tools: Consider using CIS-CAT (CIS Configuration Assessment Tool) or other automation tools to assess and enforce compliance across your infrastructure.

Benefits of CIS Compliance

• Standardized Security: Ensures that your organization follows industry-recognized security best practices.
• Risk Reduction: Helps in reducing the attack surface by implementing critical security controls.
• Compliance with Other Standards: CIS Controls and Benchmarks often overlap with other compliance frameworks like PCI-DSS, NIST, and ISO, making it easier to achieve multiple compliance goals simultaneously.
• Improved Incident Response: By implementing CIS Controls, organizations are better equipped to detect, respond to, and recover from security incidents.

What is EC2 resources?

Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) is a web service that provides scalable computing capacity in the cloud, allowing users to run virtual servers on-demand. It offers server instances, storage, and networking options to tailor the infrastructure to specific application needs.

What controls can I put in place to evaluate EC2 resources resources?