In Episode 161 of Cybersecurity Where You Are, Sean Atkinson and Tony Sager are joined by Mishal Makshood, Azure Partner Alliance Manager at the Center for Internet Security® (CIS®), and David Kalish, Sr. Cybersecurity Solutions Engineer at CIS. Together, they explore how CIS Hardened Images® help to secure cloud environments and strengthen critical national infrastructure (CNI) resilience through collaboration.

Mishal and David explain how these virtual machine images, which are pre-configured to the CIS Benchmarks®, serve as secure, scalable blueprints for cloud deployments. They highlight how CIS Hardened Images reduce human error, accelerate compliance, and foster trust across a global cybersecurity ecosystem that includes hyperscalers, supply chains, and public-private partnerships.

Tony shares the origin story of the CIS Hardened Images and reflects on the evolution of cybersecurity from isolated efforts to a cooperative model built on shared standards and integrated tooling. The group also discusses how CIS Hardened Images align to frameworks and how they help organizations navigate multi-cloud environments while maintaining consistent security postures. Here are some highlights from our episode:

• 00:50. Introductions to Mishal and David
• 01:36. What CIS Hardened Images are and why they matter
• 03:14. Why CIS Hardened Images are uniquely suited to strengthening CNI resilience
• 04:24. The cultural shift toward working as an ecosystem to start from secure baselines
• 06:34. The origin story of the CIS Hardened Images
• 10:32. The value of taking guesswork out of secure configuration management in the cloud
• 13:44. How CIS Hardened Images support compliance directly and through the CIS Critical Security Controls® (CIS Controls®)
• 20:39. Building trust through cloud partnerships and collaboration
• 28:50. The foundational role of configuration management in cybersecurity
• 34:35. Getting started with strengthening your cloud security foundation

Resources

• CIS Hardened Images® List
• Secure by Design: A Guide to Assessing Software Security Practices
• Software Supply Chain Security
• 25 Years of Creating Confidence in the Connected World
• Mapping and Compliance with the CIS Controls
• Guide to Implementation Groups (IG): CIS Critical Security Controls v8.1
• Build a Zero Trust Roadmap for FinServ with CIS SecureSuite
• Episode 154: Integration of Incident Response into DevSecOps
• How to Construct a Sustainable GRC Program in 8 Steps

If you have some feedback or an idea for an upcoming episode of Cybersecurity Where You Are, let us know by emailing [email protected].