Enterprise Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (CIS , PCI-Ready, with Threat Defense Tools)

Go beyond the baseline with a production-ready, CIS Level 1 hardened Ubuntu 24.04 LTS AMI, architected for enterprises that demand security, compliance, and provability. While standard hardened images meet the benchmark, this AMI delivers a complete, audit-ready solution out-of-the-box, saving your security and DevOps teams hundreds of hours in configuration, tool deployment, and audit preparation.

This is more than a hardened OS; it's a secure foundation designed for your business-critical applications on AWS. We provide a fully automated and transparent hardening process, complete with a comprehensive suite of pre-configured security tools and detailed reports that offer an unparalleled audit trail of all actions taken.

Key Differentiators: Go Beyond Baseline Hardening

Built-in Threat Defense Suite: Unlike other images, this AMI includes a pre-configured suite of industry-standard security tools, providing active threat detection from the moment you launch. This includes ClamAV for anti-malware, rkhunter and chkrootkit for rootkit scanning, and AIDE for file integrity monitoring (a key requirement for PCI 4.0 DSS).

Unmatched Transparency with Audit-Ready Reporting: Every instance launched from this AMI includes the /home/ubuntu/SiXCraft_Hardened_Reports directory. This folder provides a complete, human-readable audit trail of the hardening process, including pre- and post-hardening package lists, a detailed log of every command executed, and a list of SUID/SGID files for your review drastically simplifying evidence gathering for auditors.

Ready for Cloud-Native Monitoring: This AMI is built for modern cloud operations. It comes with the AWS Systems Manager and CloudWatch agents pre-configured to seamlessly send your hardening logs and security alerts to AWS Security Hub and can be validated by Amazon Inspector, enabling continuous compliance monitoring in a centralized security dashboard.

Key Benefits for Your Organization

Accelerate Compliance & Audits: Achieve a 99% CIS compliance score out-of-the-box and provide auditors with the detailed reports they need, reducing audit preparation time from weeks to minutes. The pre-hardened state and included tools directly support requirements for PCI 4.0 DSS, HIPAA, SOC 2, and other major frameworks.

Reduce Your Attack Surface: The combination of CIS Level 1 hardening and the integrated Threat Defense Suite actively protects your instances from common vulnerabilities, malware, and unauthorized changes, minimizing your security risk.

Faster, More Secure Deployments: Launch secure, production-ready servers in minutes. By providing a pre-configured, fully tested foundation, you empower your development teams to build and deploy applications faster without compromising on security.

Improve Operational Efficiency: Eliminate hundreds of hours of manual hardening and security tool configuration. This AMI provides a consistent, automated, and verifiable security baseline across all your environments, from development to production.

Included Reports and Files

To demonstrate full transparency and assist with your compliance documentation, each AMI includes the following files in /home/ubuntu/SiXCraft_Hardened_Reports:

1. basevm.txt & basevm-snaps.txt: A complete list of all packages and snaps present on the base OS before hardening.

2. afterhardening.txt & afterhardening-snaps.txt: A complete list of packages and snaps after the hardening script has been applied.

3. main.log: A detailed, time-stamped log of every action and command executed by the hardening script.

4. summary_report.txt: A high-level summary of the hardening process, including the final compliance score.

5. suid_sgid_review_list.txt: A generated list of executables with special permissions for your manual review and justification.

6. Exceptions.txt: A template for you to document any necessary exceptions for your specific environment.