Title

AWS re:Invent 2023 - Securely configure your AWS environments with CIS & Qualys (SEC229)

Summary

• Mia Levada from the Center for Internet Security (CIS) and Naeem from Qualys presented at AWS re:Invent 2023.
• CIS is a cybersecurity nonprofit that provides best practices, benchmarks, and critical security controls, with a focus on secure configuration.
• CIS benchmarks are developed through a global community consensus process, including contributions from AWS and Qualys.
• The benchmarks are aligned with compliance standards like FISMA, FedRAMP, PCI DSS, HIPAA, and NIST.
• CIS offers free benchmarks in PDF format and membership options for machine-readable formats and assessment tools.
• Qualys TotalCloud is a risk management platform that integrates CIS benchmarks for cloud security, including posture management, threat detection, and vulnerability assessment.
• Qualys uses CIS benchmarks for foundational security hygiene and feeds benchmark data into a risk reduction engine for prioritized risk management.
• The presentation highlighted the importance of CIS benchmarks in cloud migrations and the ongoing development of new benchmarks to keep pace with the evolving cloud landscape.

Insights

• The collaboration between CIS and Qualys demonstrates the importance of community-driven standards in cybersecurity.
• The emphasis on secure configuration and the use of benchmarks suggest that misconfigurations are a significant risk factor for cloud environments.
• The integration of CIS benchmarks into Qualys TotalCloud indicates that industry best practices are becoming embedded in enterprise security solutions.
• The presentation underscores the need for continuous evolution of security benchmarks to address the dynamic nature of cloud technologies and threats.
• The use of benchmarks not only aids in compliance but also serves as a foundational step in risk management and prioritization, highlighting the interconnectedness of compliance and security practices.