Glossary
CIS Benchmark
A consensus-based set of configuration recommendations from the Center for Internet Security for securely hardening systems and software.
A CIS Benchmark is a detailed, consensus-driven configuration guide published by the Center for Internet Security. For a given platform, such as a Linux distribution, it prescribes specific settings, each with a rationale and verification steps, to reduce the system's attack surface to a recognized baseline.
In hardening it provides an authoritative checklist for what "secure" should look like, often mapped into automated tools and scanners. Many recommendations carry a level (1 or 2) indicating how aggressive the change is and its potential impact on functionality.