This product has charges associated with it for hardening, update maintenance, and seller support. Hardened Rocky Linux 8 is rigorously secured following STIG guidelines, recognized through a consensus-driven process as the industry benchmark for secure configuration, optimizing both security and efficiency.
This is a repackaged open source software wherein additional charges apply for extended support with a 24 hour response time. In order to receive support, please email support@hardenedimages.com.
This image comes meticulously preconfigured by Hardened Images, adhering to the Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIG), which set the gold standard for secure configuration. These guidelines are vendor-neutral, developed through a collaborative, consensus-based approach, and recognized by government, business, industry, and academia alike. Importantly, STIG standards also serve as a robust foundation for compliance with a wide range of cybersecurity frameworks. Tailored for system and application administrators, security experts, auditors, help desk staff, and platform deployment professionals, this image is optimized for those looking to develop, deploy, evaluate, or secure applications leveraging this Linux system. It significantly enhances operational efficiency, while also mitigating time, cost, and risk associated with deploying your organization's AWS solutions.
As a trusted consulting ally for small to medium-sized businesses, Hardened Images empowers you to establish and maintain a secure presence in the cloud. We are your dedicated experts in cloud virtual machines, enabling you to commence your projects with the assurance of top-tier security.
Highlights
Superior Protection: Hardened images are specifically engineered to enhance security, incorporating pre-set safeguards and minimizing attack surfaces by default, offering a secure starting point for any deployment.
Ready-to-Deploy Compliance: These images are built to conform to high-security standards and regulations right from the start, facilitating easier compliance with industry-specific security requirements without additional customization.
Cost and Time Savings: Adopting hardened images streamlines the setup process by reducing the need for extensive security configurations and ongoing maintenance, allowing teams to launch secure environments quickly and efficiently, saving both time and operational costs.
AWS Marketplace now accepts line of credit payments through the PNC Vendor Finance program. This program is available to select AWS customers in the US, excluding NV, NC, ND, TN, & VT.
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.
You pay by the hour for each running instance of the Hardened Rocky Linux 8 image. Pricing is not tiered into plans. Instead, each dimension maps to a specific AWS EC2 instance type, and the hourly rate follows the size and capability of that instance. Smaller instances, such as micro and nano types, carry lower hourly rates than large multi-CPU, memory-optimized, GPU, or bare-metal instances. You choose the instance type that fits your workload, then pay only for the hours it runs. Costs scale with the number and size of instances you deploy.
Top-of-mind questions for buyers
What do I get for the hourly rate on each instance type?
You get a virtual machine running the Hardened Rocky Linux 8 image, configured to STIG security recommendations. Each dimension maps to one AWS EC2 instance type with its own CPU, memory, and hardware profile. The hourly software charge covers the hardened image; the underlying AWS compute is billed separately by AWS.
Am I charged when an instance is stopped or paused?
The hourly software charge meters running time only. When you stop an instance, the software charge stops accruing. Fully stopped instances may still incur underlying AWS storage fees for attached volumes, but those are separate from the image's hourly rate.
What drives my total cost across multiple instances?
Cost is the sum of hours run across every instance you deploy, each metered at the rate for its instance type. Larger instances carry higher hourly rates than smaller ones. Running more instances, or larger sizes, increases your bill. Each instance is billed independently and appears on the same invoice.
hardenedimages.com
Helpful?
Vendor refund policy
At the moment, we're unable to offer refunds, but you're free to terminate your instance at any time to avoid further charges. We're here to help if you have any questions about managing your service!
How can we make this page better?
Tell us how we can improve this page, or report an issue with this product.
Give us feedbackReport a problem with this product or seller
Legal
Vendor terms and conditions
Upon subscribing to this product, you must acknowledge and agree to the terms and conditions outlined in the vendor's End User License Agreement (EULA).
Content disclaimer
Vendors are responsible for their product descriptions and other product content. AWS does not warrant that vendors' product descriptions or other product content are accurate, complete, reliable, current, or error-free.
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
Routine update with all vendor security fixes through June 2026
Additional details
Usage instructions
Connect over SSH using the key pair selected at launch. The default user is shown above. See the listing's usage instructions for full details.
Included with every Hardened Images virtual machine is a dedicated, passionate world-class support team. Have a question? Just reach out! We love to help. Email support is available directly at support@hardenedimages.com.
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.
This product has charges associated with the pre-built hardening to the CIS Benchmarks™ and recurring maintenance. The CIS Hardened Images® are hardened in accordance with the associated CIS Benchmarks, an industry best practice for secure configuration. Reduce cost, time, and risk by building your AWS solution with CIS AMIs.
This product has charges associated with the pre-built security hardening and recurring maintenance. Deploy a Rocky Linux 8.10 virtual machine hardened with 300+ security controls to support PCI DSS needs. Save time. Launch secure. Accelerate compliance.
This product has charges associated with it for hardening and maintenance. This Citadel VM is secured using 300+ open source security controls and validated using Citadel Audit.
This product has charges associated with it for providing hardening and seller premium support. Engineered for mission-critical, regulated environments, this STIG-compliant Rocky Linux 8 image delivers a fully hardened security baseline trusted across government, defense, healthcare, and financial sectors.
Be the first to review this product. We've partnered with PeerSpot to gather customer feedback. You can share your experience by writing or recording a review, or scheduling a call with a PeerSpot analyst.