25 Years of Creating Confidence in the Connected World
Twenty-five years ago, business and social use of the internet surged – and so did cybersecurity threats. Many organizations were exposed, lacking sufficient resources or expertise to defend themselves. Experts from government agencies, private sector innovation labs, and top security institutions came together as a community to shares ideas and labor to directly address these threats. Their efforts resulted in the creation of the Center for Internet Security (CIS).
Their mission was clear: provide practical cybersecurity protections that local communities, businesses, government institutions, and critical infrastructure could use every day, especially those without extensive cybersecurity budgets or in-house expertise.
Security Proven in Action
For 25 years, CIS has set the standard for practical cybersecurity. Governments, businesses, and critical infrastructure operators rely on CIS because its solutions are developed by cybersecurity experts, tested in real-world environments, and mapped to the most widely adopted security frameworks worldwide. No other organization combines globally recognized standards, real-time cyber defense, and hands-on security implementation at this scale.
Cyber Defense Networks and Intelligence Sharing: CIS’s Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center® (MS-ISAC®) delivers real-time threat intelligence and continuous security monitoring. State, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) government organizations and critical services instantly receive alerts and actionable intelligence, enabling them to stop cyber threats like ransomware before they disrupt essential public infrastructure.
The Power of CIS
Shared-service models are critical for communities nationwide, eliminating the need for each county, city, or tribe to operate its own security operations center (SOC) or maintain its own team of specialized cyber analysts. A national detection system enriches the overall threat intelligence picture, enabling faster, more accurate incident response.
Thought Leadership
CIS is well-known for creating clear, specific, and actionable security practices. And we also drive cybersecurity strategy by connecting these to public policy, the legal system, and a range of risk-management tools – bridging the gap from technical ideas to incentives and decision-making. For example, the widely-referenced Guide to Defining Reasonable Cybersecurity provides organizations a measurable basis for determining whether their actions to protect their systems and data can be judged as reasonable.
Secure Cyber City: Stamford, CT. CIS worked with city leaders to develop a blueprint to protect critical infrastructure and strengthen community-wide cyber resilience over a successful 18-month pilot program, designed to scale across the U.S.
Standards and Best Practices
The CIS Critical Security Controls® and CIS Benchmarks® provide clear, easy-to-follow guidance for securing and organization and its systems are used daily by thousands of organizations globally. These cybersecurity best practices clearly outline practical steps any organization can implement to greatly reduce risk and improve their security posture.
Enterprise Security
CIS SecureSuite® provides scalable tools to simplify security compliance.
CIS Benchmarks ensure IT environments align with global security standards for compliance and risk reduction.
CIS Hardened Images® Pre-configured, secure cloud environments aligned with leading security standards.
All Organizations
Essential Cyber Hygiene tools provide small businesses affordable, straightforward solutions to protect against cyberattacks.
CIS Controls Implementation Groups translate CIS Controls into clear, actionable security measures tailored to small business needs.
Public Sector Security
MS-ISAC Threat Intelligence delivers real-time insights to help local governments detect and mitigate evolving cyber threats.
24x7x365 SOC Monitoring provides continuous cyber defense, ensuring critical infrastructure remains protected at all times.
Malicious Domain Blocking and Reporting (MDBR) prevents access to known cyber threats, reducing ransomware and phishing risks.
Managed Security Services provide hands-on cybersecurity expertise for small businesses without dedicated security teams.
ThreatWA™ is a first-of-its-kind multidimensional threat intelligence briefing developed weekly for business and critical infrastructure. ThreatWA’s warning and analysis includes actionable information and expert insights informed by our team’s analysts and decades-long relationships with the law enforcement and security community. CIS bridges the gap between threats that cross the cyber, physical, and information operation realms.
View all of CIS's Tools, Resources, Products, and Services
Security Proven in Action
For 25 years, CIS has set the standard for practical cybersecurity. Governments, businesses, and critical infrastructure operators rely on CIS because its solutions are developed by cybersecurity experts, tested in real-world environments, and mapped to the most widely adopted security frameworks worldwide. No other organization combines globally recognized standards, real-time cyber defense, and hands-on security implementation at this scale.
Cyber Defense Networks and Intelligence Sharing: CIS’s Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center® (MS-ISAC®) delivers real-time threat intelligence and continuous security monitoring. State, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) government organizations and critical services instantly receive alerts and actionable intelligence, enabling them to stop cyber threats like ransomware before they disrupt essential public infrastructure.
The Power of CIS
Shared-service models are critical for communities nationwide, eliminating the need for each county, city, or tribe to operate its own security operations center (SOC) or maintain its own team of specialized cyber analysts. A national detection system enriches the overall threat intelligence picture, enabling faster, more accurate incident response.
Thought Leadership
CIS is well-known for creating clear, specific, and actionable security practices. And we also drive cybersecurity strategy by connecting these to public policy, the legal system, and a range of risk-management tools – bridging the gap from technical ideas to incentives and decision-making. For example, the widely-referenced Guide to Defining Reasonable Cybersecurity provides organizations a measurable basis for determining whether their actions to protect their systems and data can be judged as reasonable.
Secure Cyber City: Stamford, CT. CIS worked with city leaders to develop a blueprint to protect critical infrastructure and strengthen community-wide cyber resilience over a successful 18-month pilot program, designed to scale across the U.S.
Standards and Best Practices
The CIS Critical Security Controls® and CIS Benchmarks® provide clear, easy-to-follow guidance for securing and organization and its systems are used daily by thousands of organizations globally. These cybersecurity best practices clearly outline practical steps any organization can implement to greatly reduce risk and improve their security posture.
Enterprise Security
CIS SecureSuite® provides scalable tools to simplify security compliance.
CIS Benchmarks ensure IT environments align with global security standards for compliance and risk reduction.
CIS Hardened Images® Pre-configured, secure cloud environments aligned with leading security standards.
All Organizations
Essential Cyber Hygiene tools provide small businesses affordable, straightforward solutions to protect against cyberattacks.
CIS Controls Implementation Groups translate CIS Controls into clear, actionable security measures tailored to small business needs.
Public Sector Security
MS-ISAC Threat Intelligence delivers real-time insights to help local governments detect and mitigate evolving cyber threats.
24x7x365 SOC Monitoring provides continuous cyber defense, ensuring critical infrastructure remains protected at all times.
Malicious Domain Blocking and Reporting (MDBR) prevents access to known cyber threats, reducing ransomware and phishing risks.
Managed Security Services provide hands-on cybersecurity expertise for small businesses without dedicated security teams.
ThreatWA™ is a first-of-its-kind multidimensional threat intelligence briefing developed weekly for business and critical infrastructure. ThreatWA’s warning and analysis includes actionable information and expert insights informed by our team’s analysts and decades-long relationships with the law enforcement and security community. CIS bridges the gap between threats that cross the cyber, physical, and information operation realms.
View all of CIS's Tools, Resources, Products, and Services
Partners
Shaping the Future of Security
CIS leaders serve in international collectives, institutes, and other communities that develop policy and standards for proactively meeting tomorrow’s cybersecurity threats and challenges. These bodies include:
- AFCEA DC Cyber Committee
- Cloud Security Alliance AI Safety Initiative
- IEEE Cyber-Informed Engineering Curricular Guidelines Working Group
- PCI Security Standards Council Advisory
- The National Academy of Sciences Cyber Resilience Forum
- Water/Wastewater Government Coordinating Committee
Additionally, CIS aligns its security best practices to input it receives from top threat vendors, helping organizations to meaningfully defend against the evolving threat landscape.
3.05T
Blocked potential connections to known malicious, suspicious, or otherwise risky sites, protecting critical infrastructure.
319.7K
Cyber events detected and mitigated, safeguarding public and private sector organizations.
1.5M
CIS security guides downloaded in 2024, providing straightforward, actionable security guidance.
Be Part of the Solution - Join Us
CIS relies on active participation to maintain strong cybersecurity and create confidence in the connected world:
Volunteer for CIS working groups, share expertise, and shape global standards.
Start Volunteering TodayEmbed CIS frameworks into solutions to enhance cybersecurity worldwide.
Partner with CIS