CIS Benchmarks™ have become the de facto standard for defining a solid security posture. Widely recognized and used across industries, they provide clear, actionable guidance to hardening systems and reducing risks. But knowing what to secure is only half the battle. The real challenge lies in how to implement CIS Benchmarks™ at scale, without disrupting operations, overwhelming teams, or turning compliance into a never-ending project ; while adapting to your systems.
With the release of Rudder 9.0, Policy and benchmark compliance brings automated CIS compliance and remediation directly into our Rudder platform. It turns CIS Benchmarks™ from static checklists into enforceable, auditable security checks designed to be rolled out progressively, safely, and in line with real operational constraints.
In our pre-release article, we explored the principles and methodology required to deploy CIS Benchmarks™ without stress. Now that Rudder 9.0 is available and Policy and benchmark compliance in use, it is time to move from theory to execution.
In this article, we walk through a clear, pragmatic approach towards implementing CIS Benchmarks™ with Rudder, in three concrete steps. A method built designed to help teams move fast, stay in control, and make CIS compliance seemlessly part of everyday operations.
Step 1: Create a representative test group of CIS Benchmarks™ configurations in Rudder
In Rudder, we start by creating a dynamic group with a few test machines. These need to share the same characteristics (OS, role, and criticality) and life cycles as the final target group. These machines will be used to validate configurations of a CIS Benchmarks™ (in audit mode and then enforce).
Aim of Stage 1: To validate your policies in a controlled environment first.
Step 2: Configure CIS Benchmarks™ policies gradually
Start to apply your CIS Benchmarks™ configurations category by category, in audit mode initially. This allows you to highlight discrepancies without automatically taking any action. Once you have the impacts under control, you can switch some rules to enforce mode to activate remediation. Rudder allows you to enforce each policy individually per each control point, giving you granular control over your deployment pace.
Aim of Stage 2: To detect gaps without any risk on operations.
Step 3: Scale up your targeted systems
Once the CIS Benchmarks™ have been validated, you can target new machines in adding dynamic groups for your configured benchmark. These new machines will automatically inherit the policies that have already been tested and validated.
But be warned: if some rules are already in enforce mode, any new machines you add to the group will be remediated automatically, without prior audit. For security purposes, it is best to temporarily re-run critical rules in audit mode or create a test subgroup before expanding any further. This method means you can scale up progressively without re-entering data or using makeshift scripts, while ensuring the necessary safeguards are in place.
Aim of Stage 3: Automate secure deployment on similar machines.
Rudder is officially CIS-certified for CIS Benchmarks™ on RHEL 9, validating both the accuracy of our implementation process and our ability to meet CIS requirements in real-world environments. Others CIS benchmarks™ will be added gradually. Built on proven reliability, our solution is a practical response to well-established needs, reflecting our team’s expertise and focus on securing infrastructures at scale.
