Center for Internet Security
The Center for Internet Security (CIS) is an association of organizations and individuals to provide materials and resources on Internet security. Particular attention is paid to the so-called benchmarks, thematic compilations of instructions and tips for protecting specific computer systems against threats when used on the Internet. Established in 2000, the administration is located in East Greenbush , New York.
Benchmarks
The publicly available benchmarks of the CIS provide administrators and technical staff with specific instructions to secure systems. The focus of the instructions is on technical measures, but organizational aspects are also included. For example, the benchmark CIS Debian Benchmark v1.0.0 contains both the proposal to check the Debian security messages regularly and specific commands to secure the ssh service.
The instructions usually consist of an action, i.e. the action to be actually implemented, and a discussion that explains the background to the instruction. This differs, for example, from the approach of the IT-Grundschutz Catalogs, which is widespread in Germany, in which, in simplified form, the environment of the system is first identified and the threats and thus the necessary measures for the respective system are evaluated from the situation.
Participating organizations
The members are made up of a large number of IT companies, universities and government agencies, particularly from the United States.
See also
- IT Baseline Protection Catalogs from the BSI, an approach widely used in Germany for securing IT systems