What you will learn
- Apply CIS benchmarks
- Understand common frameworks
- Automate compliance checks
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The basics, in plain English
Compliance means following the rules set by laws, industry standards, or your own company, such as protecting customer data. Hardening means tightening up your systems to remove weaknesses, like locking every door and window. Together they keep you both legal and safe.
- Compliance
- Following required rules and being able to prove it.
- Standard
- An agreed-upon set of rules, like PCI for payments or HIPAA for health data.
- Hardening
- Removing weak spots and turning off anything unnecessary to reduce risk.
- Audit
- An official check to confirm you are following the rules.
- Baseline
- A known-good secure starting configuration you compare against.
- Attack surface
- All the ways an attacker could try to get in; hardening shrinks it.
01
Baselines
CIS benchmarks give concrete hardening steps. Frameworks like SOC 2 require evidence; automate checks so compliance is continuous, not a fire drill.
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