CIS Controls v8 13.8 — Deploy a Network Intrusion Prevention Solution

What this control requires

Deploy a network intrusion prevention solution, where appropriate. Example implementations include the use of a Network Intrusion Prevention System (NIPS) or equivalent CSP service.

In plain English

Deploy a network intrusion prevention solution, where appropriate. In practice, this means you can prove you deploy network-level controls on a defined cadence.

Why it matters

The CIS Controls are an industry-vetted, prioritised defence: skipping a safeguard widens the attack surface that the safeguards above and below it assume is closed. Audit frameworks (FedRAMP, PCI DSS, HIPAA) all cite CIS as evidence of due care.

What an auditor looks for

A CIS-aligned reviewer wants to see (a) which Implementation Group you are targeting, (b) a documented owner for the safeguard, and (c) a tooling or process artefact (config, scan output, ticket) that proves the safeguard runs on the cadence the control demands.

Within Protect, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Control 13.8) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles.

How to implement

Cloud Posture

CSPM. Run Wiz / Prisma / Defender for Cloud / Security Command Center over every account; auto-ticket findings above your accepted-risk threshold.

Network Security

AWS. VPC Flow Logs to S3, default-deny security groups, AWS Network Firewall for north-south, and Transit Gateway for hub-and-spoke segmentation.

Azure. NSGs with deny-by-default, Azure Firewall Premium with TLS inspection, Private Endpoints for PaaS, and Microsoft Defender for Cloud's secure score for drift.

GCP. VPC Service Controls perimeters around sensitive APIs, Cloud NGFW Enterprise for L7 inspection, Private Service Connect for managed services.

Configuration Management

Policy-as-code. Codify the control as Service Control Policies (AWS), Azure Policy initiatives, or Organisation Policy (GCP) so the platform enforces what the document promises.

IaC. Gate Terraform / Pulumi / CloudFormation changes with Checkov / tfsec / OPA so misconfigurations never reach production.

Drift. Run a CSPM (Wiz / Prisma / Defender for Cloud / Security Command Center) over every account and route findings to a single risk register.

Operational checklist

• Deploy. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Protect. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Scope: network, csp, service, network intrusion prevention solution, nips, equivalent csp service.

Evidence to collect

• Infra Scan. Continuous infrastructure-posture telemetry — AWS Config, Azure Policy compliance, GCP Organisation Policy, Wiz / Prisma findings.

Infrastructure posture tooling (AWS Config, Azure Policy, Nessus) verifies platform hardening. Focus: Deploy a Network Intrusion Prevention Solution.

Common pitfalls

• Treating CSPM findings as a backlog instead of a hot queue: findings older than the policy SLA accumulate until the auditor asks why.
• Default-allow egress rules; East-West traffic with no segmentation; jump hosts on the public internet with password auth.
• Manual cloud-console changes that never make it back to Terraform — drift accumulates until the next outage forces a reconciliation.

Related controls in CIS Controls v8

• Control 13.4 — Perform Traffic Filtering Between Network Segments
• Control 13.3 — Deploy a Network Intrusion Detection Solution
• Control 12.6 — Use of Secure Network Management and Communication Protocols
• Control 12.8 — Establish and Maintain Dedicated Computing Resources for All Administrative Work
• Control 4.9 — Configure Trusted DNS Servers on Enterprise Assets
• Control 12.1 — Ensure Network Infrastructure is Up-to-Date

References

• Center for Internet Security — CIS Controls v8
• Catalogue identifier: Control 13.8

Topics: network securitycloud postureconfiguration management