What Are CIS Benchmarks?

Many security issues start with systems that are technically working, but not securely configured. Default settings, unused services, overly permissive access, and inconsistent cloud configurations can all create risk before an attacker ever exploits a software vulnerability.

CIS Benchmarks give teams a practical way to define what “securely configured” should mean across common technologies. Instead of asking every team to create baseline settings from scratch, they provide consensus-based guidance that security, IT, cloud, and compliance teams can apply and assess.

CIS Benchmarks can help organizations:

• Reduce misconfiguration risk by identifying insecure settings before they become exposure points
• Create consistent baselines across operating systems, cloud services, applications, and devices
• Support compliance work with documented configuration guidance and assessment results
• Prioritize hardening work by showing which settings need review or remediation
• Limit configuration drift as systems change over time

CIS Benchmarks aren’t a complete security program on their own, with their usefulness particularly shining when they become part of a repeatable process for hardening, checking, and maintaining secure configurations.

How CIS Benchmarks work

CIS Benchmarks work by translating security best practices into specific configuration recommendations for a particular technology. A benchmark might apply to a cloud provider, operating system, database, firewall, browser, or mobile platform. In practice, teams use CIS Benchmarks as a workflow:

1. Select the relevant benchmark for the technology in scope
2. Choose a profile level based on security needs and operational tolerance
3. Assess current settings against the benchmark recommendations
4. Review gaps between the current state and the recommended state
5. Remediate risky configurations where changes are appropriate
6. Monitor for drift so systems don’t slowly move away from the approved baseline

Level 1 and Level 2 profiles

CIS Benchmarks commonly include two profile levels.

Level 1 

These are recommendations designed to improve security while staying practical for most environments. They usually avoid major disruption and are often a good starting point for standard workloads.

Level 2 

These recommendations are stricter, and are intended for environments with higher security requirements, such as regulated systems or high-risk assets, where stronger controls may be worth added operational impact.

The right profile depends on the system’s purpose, risk level, business requirements, and tolerance for change. A public-facing production system may need a different approach than a low-risk internal workstation.

CIS Benchmarks vs. CIS Controls

CIS Benchmarks and CIS Critical Security Controls are related, but aren’t the same thing.

CIS Benchmarks provide secure configuration recommendations for specific technologies. They help answer questions like, “How should this server, cloud account, database, or device be configured?”

CIS Critical Security Controls are broader cybersecurity best practices that can help organizations prioritize what security capabilities and practices matter most across a program.

Let’s look at a simple way to separate them:

• CIS Controls help define what security practices an organization should prioritize.
• CIS Benchmarks help define how specific technologies should be securely configured.

Together, they can support a stronger security baseline by connecting program priorities to technical implementation.

Key components of CIS Benchmarks

CIS Benchmarks are structured to help teams understand, assess, and apply secure configuration guidance. The exact details vary by technology, but most benchmarks include several common elements.

Technology-specific recommendations

Each benchmark focuses on a specific platform, product, or technology category. Examples can include operating systems, cloud platforms, network devices, databases, web servers, browsers, and mobile systems.

This specificity matters because secure configuration is not one-size-fits-all. A Linux server, an AWS account, and a firewall each need different settings, checks, and operational trade-offs.

Scored and unscored guidance

Some benchmark recommendations are scored, meaning they can contribute to an assessment result. Others may be unscored because they’re harder to evaluate consistently or depend more heavily on organizational context.

Both types can still be useful. Scored recommendations help with measurable assessment, while unscored recommendations may still improve security when they fit the environment.

Audit and remediation guidance

CIS Benchmarks often include information for checking whether a setting is configured correctly and guidance for bringing it into alignment.

That makes the benchmark useful beyond policy writing. It can support hands-on work by administrators, security teams, and compliance stakeholders who need to review and improve real systems.

Examples and use cases

CIS Benchmarks can support several security and operations workflows. The common thread is configuration discipline: knowing how systems should be set up, checking whether they match that expectation, and fixing gaps when needed.

Cloud account hardening

Cloud environments can accumulate risk quickly through overly broad permissions, exposed services, weak logging settings, or inconsistent account configurations. CIS Benchmarks can help cloud teams review security-relevant settings across major providers and establish more consistent baselines.

This connects closely with broader cloud security work, such as AWS cloud security and Azure cloud security.

Endpoint and server baselines

Organizations often manage large numbers of laptops, workstations, and servers. CIS Benchmarks can help define secure settings for those systems so teams aren’t relying on defaults or one-off administrator decisions.

For example, benchmark guidance may support decisions around account settings, services, logging, password policies, and other configuration areas that affect system exposure.

Network device configuration

Firewalls, routers, and switches are critical parts of the environment. Misconfigured devices can increase risk by allowing unnecessary access, weakening logging, or leaving administrative interfaces exposed.

CIS Benchmarks can help teams review these devices against a consistent standard and reduce avoidable configuration gaps.

Compliance readiness

CIS Benchmarks aren’t the same as a compliance framework, but they can support compliance efforts. Benchmark assessments can provide evidence that systems are configured according to recognized security guidance.

That evidence can help teams working with compliance and regulatory frameworks, especially when auditors or internal reviewers need proof that secure configuration practices are being followed.

How CIS Benchmarks fit into security operations

CIS Benchmarks sit inside a broader security operations model. They help teams reduce risk from insecure configurations, but they don’t replace vulnerability management (VM), patching, monitoring, detection, or incident response (IR).

A useful distinction is that VM often focuses on known software flaws, while CIS Benchmarks focus on how systems are configured. Both matter, but a fully patched system can still be risky if it’s configured poorly.

CIS Benchmarks also support exposure reduction. Secure configuration can reduce an organization’s attack surface by disabling unnecessary services, tightening access, and making risky defaults less common.

The operational challenge is consistency. A team may harden a system once, but settings can change as software updates, administrators make exceptions, cloud services are added, or business needs shift. That’s why benchmark work should not stop after the first assessment.

A mature approach usually includes:

• A defined baseline for each major technology
• A process for reviewing benchmark results
• Clear ownership for remediation
• Exceptions that are documented and time-bound
• Ongoing monitoring for configuration drift

When used this way, CIS Benchmarks become more than a checklist – they’re part of the organization’s normal rhythm for reducing preventable risk.