Secure Baseline Configurations (SBC)

• Cybersecurity-focused to implement a program-level secure baseline configuration governance function.
• Holistic approach to govern secure baseline configurations for all technology platforms in use.
• Leverages industry-recognized hardening practices from DISA, CIS & OEM sources.
• Immense time & cost savings - enables subject matter experts to fill in the details that only they know.

Don't Write It From Scratch.

When an auditor asks for your documented secure baseline configurations, can you produce hardening standards for every platform you run, not just Windows? Most teams harden the obvious operating systems and leave applications, network gear, mobile, VoIP, and OT undocumented, which is exactly where audit findings and breaches start. Building hardening standards for every platform from a blank page is a massive lift, and no single source like CIS or DISA covers all of it. The Secure Baseline Configurations (SBC) gives you a running start: an editable, program-level framework that consolidates hardening guidance from CIS Benchmarks, DISA STIGs, and OEM recommendations across your technology platforms. It gets you roughly 80 to 90 percent of the way there, then your team tailors the baselines to the specific systems in use.

Many IT and cyber professionals mistakenly focus only on hardening the operating system (e.g., Windows 10) and fail to document all the technology platforms that require secure configurations (e.g., applications, HVAC systems, mobile devices, VoIP, etc.). The SBC does not re-invent the wheel, but leverages leading practices such as CIS Benchmarks and DISA STIGs. Unless it is a small organization with just a few laptops and a server, it is not feasible to say "we harden everything according to CIS Benchmarks", since CIS does not contain complete coverage for all technology platforms and the same weakness can be said for using the DISA STIGs. This is where the Secure Baseline Configurations (SBC) brings together a variety of options for hardening and creating technical security standards that include CIS, DISA, OEM recommendations and more!

How do you know if the SBC is right for you? The following are common statutory, regulatory and contractual requirements that expect “secure configurations” or "system hardening" for an organization's technology assets. If your organization is in scope for any of those, you should buy the SBC:  

The SBC does not re-invent the wheel. It leverages established leading practices such as CIS Benchmarks and DISA STIGs to define the hardening baseline. Unless an organization is small enough to have just a few laptops and a server, it is not feasible to claim "we harden everything according to CIS Benchmarks" without a documented framework that defines which baselines apply to which technology platforms and how exceptions are managed.

No Software To Install

The SBC is a one-time purchase of editable Microsoft Word-based documentation templates. There is no software to install, no agent to deploy, no account to provision, and no cloud environment to configure. If the organization can open and edit Microsoft Word files, the SBC is ready to use.

This deployment model is intentional. Hardening documentation belongs in the organization's own hands, inside its own version control and document management systems, rather than locked inside a vendor's SaaS tool. Once delivered, this product belongs to the buyer.

How Does The SBC Solve These Problems?

Cost Savings Estimate

When you look at the costs associated with either (1) hiring an external consultant to write cybersecurity documentation for you or (2) tasking your internal staff to write it, the cost comparisons paint a clear picture that buying from ComplianceForge is the logical option. Compared to hiring a consultant, you can save months of wait time and tens of thousands of dollars. Whereas, compared to writing your own documentation, you can potentially save hundreds of work hours and the associated cost of lost productivity. Purchasing the SBC from ComplianceForge offers these fundamental advantages when compared to the other options for obtaining quality cybersecurity documentation:

How Much Customization Remains?

Given the difficult nature of writing templated hardening documentation, ComplianceForge aims for approximately an 80% solution because it is impossible to write a 100% cookie-cutter document that can be equally applied across every organization. Hardening depends on the specific technology platforms in use, the business requirements, the regulatory environment, and the existing operational practices, so the remaining work is fine-tuning the SBC with the specific information that only the organization knows.

In practice, customization is filling in the blanks and following the guidance provided to identify the who, what, when, where, why, and how for the specific organization. Typical customization tasks include adding the company name and logo, naming actual role owners (asset owners, asset custodians, cybersecurity, operations), selecting the specific CIS Benchmarks and DISA STIGs that apply to the organization's technology stack, documenting approved deviations, and integrating the SBC with existing change management and configuration management workflows.

Why Hardening Matters

Documented secure configurations have become a baseline expectation across regulatory, contractual, insurance, and customer due-diligence contexts. NIST 800-53, NIST 800-171, PCI DSS, HIPAA, FedRAMP, CMMC, ISO 27002, and SOC 2 all expect organizations to define and document hardening baselines for the systems they operate. Cyber insurance underwriters increasingly require evidence of documented secure configurations as a precondition for coverage. Customer due-diligence reviews routinely include questions about hardening baselines and exception management.

Without documented secure configurations, organizations face audit findings, lost contracts, denied insurance claims, and the operational reality that hardening decisions are made informally by individual administrators with no defensible documentation trail. The SBC provides the documented hardening baseline that makes secure configurations demonstrable to auditors, regulators, customers, and insurers as one defensible program rather than a collection of disconnected administrator decisions.