Sold by: Citadel Security
Deployed on AWS
AWS Free Tier
This product has charges associated with the pre-built security hardening and recurring maintenance. Deploy a Hardened Microsoft Windows Server 2025 virtual machine with 300+ security controls already applied. Start secure. Stay secure. Save weeks of work.
Overview
This Hardened Microsoft Windows Server 2025 image is a hardened virtual machine configured with over 300 security controls designed to protect cloud-based workloads from the start. Ideal for companies operating in regulated or sensitive environments, this image gives teams a secure and production-ready foundation out of the box.
Our hardened images are built using proprietary internal pipelines that automate and validate the implementation of critical security controls. Each control is carefully selected to reduce attack surface, enforce secure defaults, and help teams meet internal or external compliance expectations. No tools are pre-installed. The image is clean, consistent, and easy to integrate into any environment.
Use cases include deploying workloads in healthcare, finance, government, SaaS platforms, or any application where security is a priority. Default cloud OS images offer little to no security by default. Our hardened images save engineering teams weeks of effort, reduce risk from misconfiguration, and accelerate your ability to launch in secure environments. We are a US-based company with over four years of operation, trusted by enterprises and government agencies. All engineering and support work is performed by US-based employees.
Highlights
- Over 300 security controls are pre-applied to the base image to reduce vulnerabilities, enforce strong defaults, and simplify compliance. This saves teams weeks of manual effort and ensures consistency across deployments.
- Every image is built through our internal security pipeline and validated for integrity and reliability. You can deploy in minutes with confidence that your base operating system is secure and ready for production use.
- Backed by billions of compute hours and trusted by Fortune 500 and government teams. Our hardened images are the secure foundation for mission-critical workloads in regulated environments.
Details
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Delivery method
Delivery option
64-bit (x86) Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
Latest version
Operating system
Win 2025
Deployed on AWS
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Pricing
Pricing is based on actual usage, with charges varying according to how much you consume. Subscriptions have no end date and may be canceled any time. Alternatively, you can pay upfront for a contract, which typically covers your anticipated usage for the contract duration. Any usage beyond contract will incur additional usage-based costs.
Additional AWS infrastructure costs may apply. Use the AWS Pricing Calculator to estimate your infrastructure costs.
If you are an AWS Free Tier customer with a free plan, you are eligible to subscribe to this offer. You can use free credits to cover the cost of eligible AWS infrastructure. See AWS Free Tier for more details. If you created an AWS account before July 15th, 2025, and qualify for the Legacy AWS Free Tier, Amazon EC2 charges for Micro instances are free for up to 750 hours per month. See Legacy AWS Free Tier for more details.
Dimension | Cost/hour |
|---|---|
t3.large Recommended | $0.32 |
t2.micro | $0.14 |
t3.micro | $0.14 |
m8a.metal-24xl | $5.10 |
r5a.12xlarge | $2.40 |
r5b.24xlarge | $5.10 |
f1.4xlarge | $2.40 |
gr6.4xlarge | $2.40 |
r5dn.2xlarge | $2.40 |
r6id.24xlarge | $5.10 |
Dimensions summary
You pay by the hour for this hardened Windows Server image, billed per running instance. Each dimension maps to a specific AWS EC2 instance type, so your rate depends on the instance you launch. Larger instances within a family cost more than smaller ones. The listing spans many families, including general-purpose, compute-optimized, memory-optimized, storage-optimized, and accelerated (GPU) types, plus bare-metal options. You select the instance that fits your workload, and the software fee is added on top of standard AWS infrastructure charges. No upfront commitment applies; you pay only for hours used.
Top-of-mind questions for buyers
The software fee meters running instance-hours only. A fully stopped instance accrues no hourly software charge. You may still pay standard AWS storage fees for attached volumes while the instance is stopped, but the image license bills only for time the instance actually runs.
Each dimension maps to one AWS EC2 instance type. Your rate depends on the instance you launch, sized by its family and capacity. The software fee is added on top of standard AWS infrastructure charges for that instance. Both x86_64 and ARM64 (Graviton) instance families appear in the catalog.
The fee covers the maintained, hardened operating-system image with monthly patched releases and US-based product support. Your team still owns application security, cloud architecture, identity, networking, logging, evidence retention, and assessor validation. The image addresses the OS layer only, not broader workload compliance.
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Delivery details
64-bit (x86) Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
An AMI is a virtual image that provides the information required to launch an instance. Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) instances are virtual servers on which you can run your applications and workloads, offering varying combinations of CPU, memory, storage, and networking resources. You can launch as many instances from as many different AMIs as you need.
Version release notes
This is the initial release of the Hardened Microsoft Windows Server 2025 image. It includes 300+ security controls pre-applied to the operating system and all latest updates as of this build. No extra software is included.
Additional details
Usage instructions
Secure Launch and RDP Access Instructions for Hardened Windows Images
1. Launch the Hardened Image
Deploy the hardened Windows Server image into your secure VPC using the AWS Console, Terraform, or other infrastructure-as-code tooling.
2. Restrict Network Access
Update the instance's Security Group to:
- Allow RDP (TCP port 3389) only from your trusted IP address
- Avoid exposing to 0.0.0.0/0
- If using AWS Systems Manager (SSM), you do not need to open any inbound ports
3. Optional but Recommended
- Use AWS Systems Manager Session Manager for administrative access
- Alternatively, connect via VPN or bastion host if you choose to expose RDP
4. Retrieve the Default Administrator Password
Using the AWS Console
- Go to EC2 > Instances
- Select your Windows instance
- Click "Get Windows Password"
- Upload the private key (.pem) used when launching the instance
- The password for the Administrator account will be decrypted and displayed
Using AWS CLI
Run the following command:
aws ec2 get-password-data -instance-id i-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx -priv-launch-key path/to/your-key.pem
5. Connect via RDP
- Open Remote Desktop Connection on your local machine
- Enter the public IP or DNS name of the instance
- Login using the username Administrator and the retrieved password
6. Security Group Reminder
- Ensure port 3389 is open only to your IP address
7. Post-Launch Notes
- No additional hardening steps are required
- The system is already pre-hardened with over 300 security controls
- You can immediately begin using the instance for production or testing workloads
Resources
Vendor resources
Support
Vendor support
Support is part of what you get with a Citadel image, and it comes from a US-based team that works on these builds every day. Email support@citadelpci.com with anything - choosing the right image, how the hardening behaves, patching and releases, evidence for a PCI DSS review, or a question you are not sure who else to ask. We read every message, and we would much rather you ask than guess. More about how we work with customers:
AWS infrastructure support
AWS Support is a one-on-one, fast-response support channel that is staffed 24x7x365 with experienced and technical support engineers. The service helps customers of all sizes and technical abilities to successfully utilize the products and features provided by Amazon Web Services.
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