Sold by: Center for Internet Security
Deployed on AWS
AWS Free Tier
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.
Overview
The CIS Hardened Image Level 1 on Amazon EKS-Optimized Amazon Linux 2 is a pre-configured image built by the Center for Internet Security (CIS®) for use on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) and optimized for use with Amazon Elastic Container Service for Kubernetes (Amazon EKS). It is a pre-configured, security-hardened image that aligns with the robust security recommendations, the CIS Benchmarks, making it easier for organizations to meet regulatory requirements. Not only is this image pre-hardened to the CIS Benchmarks guidance, but it is also patched monthly in alignment with the updates from the software vendor. Key Benefits
Highlights
- Hardened according to a Level 1 CIS Benchmark that is developed in a consensus-based process and that is accepted by government, business, industry, and academia.
- Helps with compliance to PCI DSS, FedRAMP, DoD Cloud Computing SRG, FISMA, select NIST publications, and more.
- Pre-configured to align with industry best practices that are developed and supported by CIS, this image has hardened account and local policies, firewall configuration, and computer-based and user-based administrative templates.
Details
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Delivery method
Delivery option
64-bit (x86) Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
Latest version
Operating system
AmazonLinux 2
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.
Dimension | Cost/hour |
|---|---|
t3.medium Recommended | $0.022 |
t2.micro AWS Free Tier | $0.02 |
t3.micro AWS Free Tier | $0.022 |
i3en.large | $0.022 |
c6i.16xlarge | $0.06 |
vt1.24xlarge | $0.06 |
c7i.48xlarge | $0.06 |
m7a.4xlarge | $0.035 |
m5dn.12xlarge | $0.055 |
g6e.16xlarge | $0.06 |
Vendor refund policy
Refunds through AWS are not available at this time. You will only be billed for actual time of instance use. As with all CIS security products, our aim is always 100 percent customer/member satisfaction.
Custom pricing options
Request a private offer to receive a custom quote.
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.
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
NA
Additional details
Usage instructions
No sensitive information supplied by customers will be stored outside this instance. No data encryption configuration is applicable to this instance. You can encrypt the instance EBS volume per standard EC2 processes. No programmatic system credentials and cryptographic keys are used by this instance. Launch the instance via the AWS Marketplace or EC2 console. Navigate to your Amazon EC2 console and verify that you're in the correct region. Choose instance and select your launched instance. Select the server to display your metadata page and choose the Status checks tab at the bottom of the page to review if your status checks passed or failed. Connect using SSH. Use "ec2-user" as the username. Immediately apply latest security updates to the instance.
Support
Vendor support
Questions, feedback, and support accessing CIS-developed AMIs is provided by contacting
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.
Updated weekly
By Center for Internet Security
By Canonical Group Limited
By Hardened Images
Top
25
In Compliance and Auditing
Sentiment is AI generated from actual customer reviews on AWS and G2
Functionality
Ease of use
Customer service
Cost effectiveness
Positive reviews
Mixed reviews
Negative reviews
AI generated from product descriptions
Security Hardening
Pre-configured image hardened according to CIS Benchmarks Level 1 security recommendations
Configuration Assessment
Includes CIS Configuration Assessment Tool (CIS-CAT Pro) reports for verifying hardening compliance
Benchmark Alignment
Follows industry-recognized security guidance developed through consensus-based process
System Integrity
Applies security configurations to account policies, firewall settings, and administrative templates without modifying base image packages
Compliance Documentation
Provides detailed hardening reports including pre and post-hardening package lists and configuration exceptions
Cryptographic Compliance
FIPS 140-2 certified kernel and cryptographic modules with out-of-the-box compliance
Security Patch Coverage
Comprehensive security updates for over 23,000 open source packages across Ubuntu Universe repository
Compliance Hardening
Integrated hardening profiles from CIS and DISA-STIG security implementation guidelines
Kernel Security
FIPS-certified kernel with ongoing security updates for cryptographic components
Security Tooling
Ubuntu Security Guide (USG) for automated compliance and security configuration management
Security Configuration
Pre-configured security safeguards with minimized attack surfaces and default protective measures
Compliance Framework
Vendor-neutral security configuration aligned with multiple cybersecurity compliance standards
System Optimization
Preconfigured Linux system tailored for system administrators, security experts, and platform deployment professionals
Security Standard Adherence
Image developed through consensus-based approach following industry-recognized security benchmarks
Standard contract
No
No
Customer reviews
4.2
29 ratings
29 AWS reviews
|
4 external reviews
Star ratings include only reviews from verified AWS customers. External reviews can also include a star rating, but star ratings from external reviews are not averaged in with the AWS customer star ratings.
Bavan Balakrishnan
Facilitates fast deployment and simplifies management
Reviewed on Jun 24, 2025
Review from a verified AWS customer
What is our primary use case?
We are migrating our services into container services. We build websites and all of our products' backends are based on Amazon EKS.
What is most valuable?
The simplicity and management portal make it a neat solution. You don't have to fiddle around with too many open source tools, as it's just a comprehensive solution.
We use the pipeline, which is critical for us to deploy automatically. This eliminates manual intervention, which is really helpful.
What needs improvement?
We initially had some issues getting the logging out of it, because what they're providing into CloudTrail is what we get. If we wanted to go in-depth, we had to deploy third-party tools. We did try the sidecar way of getting the logs. Ideally, if the platform was able to provide those kinds of valuable logs, that would be beneficial. Adding enhanced logging capabilities would be a nice improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using the solution for three plus years.
What other advice do I have?
Time to value is good with fast deployment and very good documentation that is really helpful.
I don't personally deal with the costing part, but I think it's a fair amount. That's the only reason we're using it continuously, as otherwise we would have moved somewhere else.
The implementation was done in-house.
On a scale of 1-10, I rate this solution a 9.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Amit Anand
Has experienced seamless integration and robust support while benefiting from infrastructure automation
Reviewed on Jun 19, 2025
Review from a verified AWS customer
What is our primary use case?
The use cases for the product involve provisioning of infrastructure and auto provisioning of infrastructure.
I have managed on-premise deployments in my use case with a Helm chart.
What is most valuable?
The biggest advantages of Amazon EKS include load balancing, auto scalability, and platform integration.
The solution includes automated node provisioning features.
The integration with AWS services involves platform services only.
What needs improvement?
We usually get deployed and only need to tweak the source code; however, I think the monitoring part and observability part could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been selling it for almost two years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Amazon EKS deserves a perfect rating of ten.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support from Amazon deserves a rating of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
I would rate the ease of installing Amazon EKS in the middle area, giving it a five.
What other advice do I have?
I have moved to pre-sales activity now.
I am selling Kubernetes Engine from Amazon.
I can rate Amazon EKS as nine because I just need to see some improvement.
I want to be a reference for Amazon.
The overall rating for Amazon EKS is 9 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Hari_Rajendiran
Platform engineers configure for seamless microservices deployment and developers benefit from enhanced productivity
Reviewed on Jun 12, 2025
Review from a verified AWS customer
What is our primary use case?
Our typical use case for Amazon EKS is that we have a number of applications and microservices that we host in EKS. We have a separate code base for the infrastructure platform, and the microservice team and the application team will be deploying their microservices on their own. We have configured it in a way that it could be easily accessible for developers as well as the platform engineers; we just platformize things. Earlier, I was using ECS, and the reason we use Amazon EKS is for better adaptation of Kubernetes , fitting our multi-tenant model.
What is most valuable?
The best features of Amazon EKS are that it is very plain by itself, but we use a number of optimizations, such as Carpenter for scaling and node auto-scaling, and Keda for application and microservices auto-scaling, as an event-based auto-scaler. Additionally, we use Portainer less, and for configuration, we utilize Cert Manager and Istio . It's not only Amazon EKS but a combination of various components within it.
By default, if you just install Amazon EKS, you can deploy your application, but to have it enterprise-ready, you have to configure a number of other things that will boost productivity.
What needs improvement?
Amazon EKS's deep integration with AWS services, such as IAM and elastic load balancing, has created some challenges. For example, we have something in place already, and there are some issues with enabling FIPS, which is FedRAMP compliant for the load balancers. You cannot change the SSL policy for the load balancer; I am not sure if it has been patched by AWS yet. However, apart from that, we use it effectively, and it is more flexible.
Regarding built-in observability in Amazon EKS, there is CloudWatch and CloudTrail . However, you cannot profile the applications; we can collect logs in S3 , but there is no streaming solution available. Only CloudWatch exists, so we use other tools for observability and do not depend solely on CloudWatch, only relying on it for crucial workloads and infrastructure logs.
Amazon EKS can be improved by having the maintenance of Kubernetes versions managed better, as everything is handled by the Kubernetes team and possibly a separate team at AWS. We have to constantly maintain upgrades and ensure EKS add-ons are up-to-date, requiring us to upgrade the Kubernetes version and releases. They could provide a managed service in the backend instead of making customers handle it; we are currently doing it, but it's a regular activity we do per quarter.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have around six years of experience with Amazon EKS.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon EKS is a stable solution, as it is only available in AWS alone.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a scalable solution for us.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before using Amazon EKS, I was using ECS. I switched from ECS to Amazon EKS because our product design changed. With numerous small services that you don't want to manage the backend infrastructure for, you can easily deploy and let it be with ECS; it is a more straightforward solution. However, considering cost with Amazon EKS, it may be pretty high, but it serves its purpose very effectively without management overhead.
If you are going with Amazon EKS, you must change your deployment strategy and develop applications for Kubernetes, writing deployments and pods, or stateful sets, which provides more flexibility. There are pros and cons to both solutions, and you have to evaluate which will suit your use case. In our situation, we had some applications in ECS as in Amazon EKS, and that was an architectural decision discussed internally within teams.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup with Amazon EKS was hard initially, but being accustomed to it now, it's not that difficult; it's relatively easy.
What was our ROI?
We have seen ROI with Amazon EKS; we have a separate team actively working on it. We have cost explorer available, and a bill forecast based on usage allows us to determine whether resources are underutilized or overutilized. You can generate reports and analyze them. I have done this for ECS, but for Amazon EKS, I haven't worked on cost savings directly, as there is a separate team responsible for that.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing for Amazon EKS is limited as there's a separate team for that, and I do not have much knowledge of specifics. However, the pricing is based on the instance type we use in the EKS node group, so it should cover that aspect; their pricing is generally easy to understand in terms of instances.
What other advice do I have?
We are using a cloud deployment model. On a scale of one to ten, I rate Amazon EKS an eight.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
reviewer1455381
Managed clusters provide simplicity but initial setup requires more knowledge
Reviewed on May 27, 2025
Review from a verified AWS customer
What is our primary use case?
My main use cases for Amazon EKS are securing the clusters and providing mesh gateways between the clusters.
What is most valuable?
The features that I find useful in Amazon EKS are Istio , Webhooks, service accounts, and ReplicaSets with different service accounts and accounts that we work with.
The main benefits that I received from using Amazon EKS are that it is a managed cluster and offers simplicity.
What needs improvement?
I am not the right person to ask what could be improved in Amazon EKS to make this tool better for the next release. A continuation of the managed pieces would be beneficial because there is no integration of clusters. They are all separate with no real managed cluster type of capability.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Amazon EKS for about 3 and 1/2 to 4 years.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
The initial setup for Amazon EKS is not straightforward. Kubernetes is not an easy technology because there are many technologies in the cluster. You need to understand infrastructure code to deploy it and understand all of the requirements alongside it. You cannot simply request deployment of EKS clusters as it does not work that way.
I would rate the setup for Amazon EKS as a three because I need to have other technologies and other tool sets to make it work. I cannot just go through Amazon's console and request a three-node cluster deployment because that does not work.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Regarding stability, Amazon EKS is stable. Once it is up, it works. I would rate it as a nine.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
For scalability, Amazon EKS is scalable. I would rate it as a nine.
How are customer service and support?
I have never contacted customer support for any issues on Amazon EKS.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
The solutions I evaluated before working with Amazon EKS include Grafana , Prometheus, K9s, Istio , and Consul.
The main benefits in Amazon EKS compared to those tools are that it is a different tool set completely, and they provide better visibility and connectivity.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup for Amazon EKS is not straightforward. Kubernetes is not an easy technology because there are many technologies in the cluster. You need to understand infrastructure code to deploy it and understand all of the requirements alongside it. You cannot simply request deployment of EKS clusters as it does not work that way.
I would rate the setup for Amazon EKS as a three because I need to have other technologies and other tool sets to make it work. I cannot just go through Amazon's console and request a three-node cluster deployment because that does not work.
What other advice do I have?
I suggest understanding the entire form before understanding Kubernetes. I would rate Amazon EKS as a seven out of ten because Kubernetes across all CSPs is complicated. I do not think it is an easy technology to give it anything more than a seven.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Sâmeque Mendes
multi-application deployment using advanced networking and autoscaling features
Reviewed on Apr 28, 2025
Review from a verified AWS customer
What is our primary use case?
I use Amazon EKS to provide the computing power for my applications. We have over thirty clusters in Amazon EKS . Our team uses Amazon EKS to deploy new applications using Helm and to manage our infrastructure. We use Amazon EKS to scale and deploy more applications using different namespaces. Amazon EKS services help us provide clusters where we deploy APIs, services, cron jobs, and other applications to support our services.
What is most valuable?
The features I find most valuable in Amazon EKS include the VPC CNI, which provides networking inside the cluster, and the EBS CSI driver, which is an example of the add-ons used with Amazon EKS. Kube-proxy for DNS is also a valuable feature. The features we use for managing container applications, like scheduling and scaling, simplify our use of Amazon EKS.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see improvements in the management capabilities that are native to AWS for Amazon EKS. Our current use involves using a different tool to administer the management, and I believe enhancing this aspect would be beneficial.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Amazon EKS for four or five years, mostly in financial services.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
During the initial setup, I needed to learn about Docker , networking, and microservices, which was a challenge as I didn't have a background in microservices. My first application took three months to deploy, but now, with automation and CI/CD, we can deploy cycles of twenty applications swiftly. Initially, two people were required to deploy Amazon EKS.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon EKS is very stable, and when properly configured, I rate it ten out of ten. In my notes, it's a nine. I did experience some challenges with network stability but was able to resolve them with AWS technical support.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We use the Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA) to provide elasticity to our applications. This allows us to scale our applications or APIs as needed, offering reliability through the automation of scaling processes. I rate the scalability as higher than eight.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support from AWS for Amazon EKS is excellent. I rate it eight out of ten. Recently, we faced a network issue, and AWS technical support provided guidance to resolve the problem successfully. Their support was crucial for directing our efforts and solving our IP-related issues.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
My first experience with Amazon EKS was difficult, and I would rate the initial setup as two because it was challenging without prior experience in microservices. However, after the initial setup, my perception improved, and I now rate it as five or six.
What about the implementation team?
Two people were necessary to deploy my Amazon EKS.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We are making a significant effort to transform our usage of Amazon EKS, which was previously rated as eight or nine in terms of cost. Now, it stands at six or seven due to optimizing our workload.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I rate Amazon EKS as a nine out of ten. It's a very stable and reliable product.
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)