Case studies / Cloud
Cloud · Large enterprise
Hardened golden images, automated across 400+ AWS accounts
Manually hardened AMIs across 400+ accounts led to inconsistent security baselines and slow patch cycles. We automated the golden-image pipeline so every account gets the same hardened baseline, continuously.
CIS & STIG-compliant across 15+ operating system variants, generated and distributed automatically.
Every account on the same hardened baseline.
Zero-day exposure cut down through faster, automated refresh.
The challenge
Inconsistent baselines, slow patch cycles
Manually hardened AMIs across 400+ accounts led to inconsistent security baselines and slow patch cycles, leaving zero-day exposure windows open longer than the business could accept.
Before
- Manually hardened AMIs, inconsistent across accounts
- Slow, manual patch cycles
- No single source of truth for the hardened baseline
- Zero-day exposure windows left open longer than acceptable
After
- 100+ CIS & STIG-compliant AMI variants, automated
- Consistent hardened baseline across 400+ accounts
- Continuous refresh cycle, not a manual one
- Zero-day exposure window cut down
How we approached it
Automate the pipeline, distribute continuously
We built an automated golden-image pipeline that produces CIS and STIG-compliant AMI variants and distributes and refreshes them continuously across the account estate — replacing a manual process with one that runs on its own.
Under the hood
Next step
Hardened images going stale across a large account estate?
We automate the golden-image pipeline so every account runs on the same current, hardened baseline.