CIS Controls
The CIS Controls are a set of prioritized cybersecurity best practices designed to help organizations defend against common threats in a practical and measurable way.
Table of Contents
What are CIS Controls?
Originally called the SANS Top 20, the CIS Controls were created to provide a community-driven, prioritized set of cybersecurity practices. They are now maintained by the Center for Internet Security (CIS).
The current version (v8) includes 18 controls that map closely to common attack vectors and modern enterprise IT.
Scope and applicability
The CIS Controls are designed for broad use across industries and organization sizes:
- Small and medium enterprises looking for pragmatic guidance.
- Large enterprises aligning with multiple frameworks.
- Public sector organizations seeking operationally focused security baselines.
They can be implemented independently or alongside frameworks like ISO 27001 and NIST CSF.
Key requirements
The 18 CIS Controls include:
- Inventory and control of assets: ensure all devices and software are tracked.
- Continuous vulnerability management: proactive patching and remediation.
- Controlled use of administrative privileges: strict management of accounts.
- Email and web protections: guard against phishing and malware.
- Malware defenses: baseline antivirus and advanced monitoring.
- Incident response management: prepared detection and recovery processes.
- Application software security: secure coding and regular testing.
- Penetration testing: validation of security posture.
- Enforcement and penalties: no legal enforcement, but failure to apply these widely recognized controls often results in increased breach risk and may be seen as negligence.
Impact on SecOps
For SecOps teams, the CIS Controls provide operational focus:
- Prioritization: helps identify which controls to deploy first based on risk.
- Operational alignment: SOC processes map to controls like monitoring, logging, and access management.
- Cross-framework synergy: simplifies compliance reporting by aligning with ISO, NIST, and PCI DSS.
- Metrics: CIS provides maturity models to measure effectiveness.
By applying CIS Controls, SecOps teams reduce attack surfaces and improve detection capabilities in practical ways.