Episode 161: An Ecosystem-Wide Approach to CNI Resilience

In Episode 161 of Cybersecurity Where You Are, Sean Atkinson and Tony Sager are joined by Mishal Makshood, Azure Partner Alliance Manager at the Center for Internet Security® (CIS®), and David Kalish, Sr. Cybersecurity Solutions Engineer at CIS. Together, they explore how CIS Hardened Images® help to secure cloud environments and strengthen critical national infrastructure (CNI) resilience through collaboration.

Mishal and David explain how these virtual machine images, which are pre-configured to the CIS Benchmarks®, serve as secure, scalable blueprints for cloud deployments. They highlight how CIS Hardened Images reduce human error, accelerate compliance, and foster trust across a global cybersecurity ecosystem that includes hyperscalers, supply chains, and public-private partnerships.

Tony shares the origin story of the CIS Hardened Images and reflects on the evolution of cybersecurity from isolated efforts to a cooperative model built on shared standards and integrated tooling. The group also discusses how CIS Hardened Images align to frameworks and how they help organizations navigate multi-cloud environments while maintaining consistent security postures. Here are some highlights from our episode:

• 00:50. Introductions to Mishal and David
• 01:36. What CIS Hardened Images are and why they matter
• 03:14. Why CIS Hardened Images are uniquely suited to strengthening CNI resilience
• 04:24. The cultural shift toward working as an ecosystem to start from secure baselines
• 06:34. The origin story of the CIS Hardened Images
• 10:32. The value of taking guesswork out of secure configuration management in the cloud
• 13:44. How CIS Hardened Images support compliance directly and through the CIS Critical Security Controls® (CIS Controls®)
• 20:39. Building trust through cloud partnerships and collaboration
• 28:50. The foundational role of configuration management in cybersecurity
• 34:35. Getting started with strengthening your cloud security foundation

Resources

• CIS Hardened Images® List
• Secure by Design: A Guide to Assessing Software Security Practices
• Software Supply Chain Security
• 25 Years of Creating Confidence in the Connected World
• Mapping and Compliance with the CIS Controls
• Guide to Implementation Groups (IG): CIS Critical Security Controls v8.1
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