AWS Security Hardening Checklist
AWS gives you the controls, it does not turn them on. This checklist covers 95 CIS Level 1 and Level 2 controls across IAM, logging, monitoring, networking, storage, compute, and key management, so you can close the gaps that pentesters and auditors find first.
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What's inside
95 controls across 10 categories
Every control is plain-language, prioritized by severity, and paired with how to verify it and how to fix it. Organized into 10 sections.
Real sample controls
A look at the highest-severity controls
These are taken directly from the checklist, no paraphrasing.
- AWS-IAM-01-L1CRITICALIAM
Enable MFA on the root account.
- AWS-IAM-02-L1CRITICALIAM
Ensure no access keys exist on the root account.
- AWS-IAM-03-L1CRITICALIAM
Do not use the root account for day-to-day work.
- AWS-IAM-11-L1CRITICALIAM
Attach no IAM policies directly to users, use groups or roles.
AWS Hardening Checklist
- 95 prioritized controls
- Verify & fix steps for each control
- 10 categories across 10 sections
- Instant download · lifetime access
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Built by practitioners
Controls drawn from CIS benchmarks, framework requirements, and real assessment findings.
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Built by practitioners, not a content mill
Built by Jason Dobbs, a technology leader and cybersecurity strategist with more than two decades of experience hardening Microsoft 365, Azure, and AWS for small and mid-sized businesses across regulated industries, healthcare, finance, law, real estate, energy, and the public sector. These controls are drawn from real assessments and the security questions cyber insurers actually ask.
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“Before we worked with Strondex, SOC 2 felt like a moving target. Jason simplified the entire process. His team performed a thorough assessment, developed clear action plans, helped us implement the controls, and made sure we had the evidence the audit required. They were responsive at every step. We completed our SOC 2 audit successfully and came away with a much stronger understanding of security governance.”
“We engaged Strondex to prepare for a PCI DSS assessment and expected guidance. What we received was a true partnership. Jason and his team helped us close longstanding compliance gaps, improve our documentation, validate technical controls, and prepare our staff for the auditor’s questions. By the time the audit arrived, everything was organized and ready. We passed with ease and earned positive feedback from the assessor on the maturity of our security program.”
Frequently asked questions
Which CIS levels does this AWS checklist cover?
It covers both CIS AWS Foundations Level 1 and Level 2 controls, with each control labelled so you can decide how far to harden based on your risk tolerance.
Does it cover multi-account AWS Organizations setups?
Yes. Account and organization hygiene is one of the ten domains, alongside IAM, logging, monitoring, networking, S3, EC2, RDS, KMS, and security services.
Is this useful if I already run Security Hub or GuardDuty?
Yes. The Security Services domain helps you confirm those tools are configured correctly, and the rest of the checklist covers controls those services do not enforce on their own.
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