Resources
This page collects references and practical tools relevant to cybersecurity. They are short-listed for small and mid-sized organisations, and are suitable for both internal IT teams as well as external partners.
Linux and server security
- CIS Linux Benchmarks – industry-recognised hardening guidance for multiple Linux distributions, often used in compliance audits.
- Lynis – open-source auditing and hardening tool for Linux and Unix, useful for baselining servers and tracking improvements over time.
- Red Hat Security Documentation – official guidance for securing RHEL and related enterprise Linux environments.
UK SME security guidance
- NCSC Small Business Guide – Cyber Security – concise, practical guidance suitable for SME environments.
- NCSC guidance for small and medium-sized organisations – up-to-date advice, alerts and how-to material from the UK National Cyber Security Centre.
- Cyber Essentials – UK government-backed scheme defining a basic security baseline and certification route.
Security frameworks and references
- CIS Critical Security Controls – a prioritised set of controls for practical security uplift.
- NIST Cybersecurity Framework – widely adopted risk-based framework based on identify, protect, detect, respond and recover.
- ISO/IEC 27001 overview – the international standard for information security management systems.
Monitoring, logging and detection
- Wazuh – open-source SIEM/XDR-style platform providing log aggregation, file integrity monitoring, vulnerability detection and alerting.
- Elastic / OpenSearch SIEM – log search and analytics platforms supporting dashboards and detection rules.
In many cybersecurity implementations, a key objective is simply to ensure that important events are logged, retained and visible, even before deploying a full SIEM.
Cloud and SaaS security
- AWS Security Hub – consolidated security and compliance visibility for AWS environments.
- AWS Well-Architected – Security Pillar – design principles for secure cloud architectures.
- Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) – independent research and best practice for cloud security.
Practical tools and utilities
- Shodan – search engine for exposed internet-connected services. Useful for understanding external attack surfaces.
- Qualys SSL Labs – Server Test – evaluates public TLS/SSL configurations and identifies misconfigurations.
- Have I Been Pwned – checks whether email addresses appear in known breach datasets.
- VirusTotal – aggregates antivirus and threat intelligence engines to analyse suspicious files or URLs.