Hardened Image for Windows Server 2025

CloudInfra Secure delivers Windows Server 2025 and 2022 images hardened before publication, so every VM is protected from first boot - no hardening project, no specialist required. Day one isnt the hard part, though; staying hardened and proving it to an auditor is.

Hardened at deployment. Secure by design. Continuously verified.

• Verify in one command. Confirm product integrity, the deployed baseline, live posture and any drift - instantly, on any server.
• Detect and correct drift. A scheduled check re-audits the baseline and alerts only on regressions, with optional auto-remediation and email/Graph alerts.
• Produce audit-ready reports. Self-contained HTML, JSON and CSV, with a security score, per-framework alignment and drill-down detail.
• Change safely and reversibly. Every change is previewed, snapshotted and reversible; the engine never reboots your server for you.
• Pick a role-tuned baseline. Domain Controller, IIS, SQL Server, Remote Desktop and more

Aligned with frameworks your auditors care about

The 300+ technical controls map to recognised frameworks - including DISA STIG, NIST SP 800-53, NIST CSF, NIST SP 800-171, PCI DSS, SOC 2, ISO/IEC 27001, HIPAA, UK Cyber Essentials and NIS2 - shown as alignment gauges in every report, share evidence of where you stand.

What each baseline actually hardens

Behind the security score sit 300+ concrete Windows Server settings, aligned to recognised hardening benchmarks:

• Accounts and authentication. Password, account-lockout and Kerberos policy, plus interactive-logon and anonymous-access restrictions.
• Legacy protocols removed. SMBv1, LM/NTLMv1 and obsolete TLS/SSL disabled; SMB and LDAP signing enforced.
• Attack-surface reduction. Microsoft Defender ASR rules, Credential Guard, LSA protection and virtualization-based security.
• Audit and logging. A complete advanced audit policy and PowerShell script-block logging for SIEM-ready evidence.
• Least privilege. User Rights Assignment tightened, unnecessary services and Windows features disabled, Windows Firewall enforced.
• Remote access. RDP encryption, Network Level Authentication and restricted administrative access.

Enterprise-grade by design

• Generation 2 with Trusted Launch. Secure Boot and a virtual TPM for hardware-rooted boot integrity, plus Credential Guard and virtualization-based security.
• Native and dependency-free. Pure PowerShell using built-in Windows tooling. No agents, no Python, Node or SQL to patch or attack.
• Authenticode code-signed With a SHA-256 manifest covering every file, so you can prove it is genuine and untampered.
• Fleet-first. Machine-readable JSON and exit codes for automation across hundreds of servers.

Built for regulated and high-security workloads

Government, defence, financial services, healthcare and managed service providers rely on CloudInfra Secure to stand up Zero Trust, least-privilege Windows Server estates on Azure. From a single jump box to a fleet of hundreds, you get a repeatable, evidence-backed security baseline for STIG and NIST hardening, vulnerability reduction and continuous configuration management.

Why start from a pre-hardened image

• Faster to compliant. Skip weeks of baseline engineering and deploy a Windows Server that is already hardened and documented.
• Lower risk of breakage. Every control is tested, previewed, snapshotted and reversible, so you harden without unplanned downtime.
• Always auditable. Scheduled and on-demand reports give auditors current evidence, not a stale point-in-time snapshot.
• No lock-in, no agents. Native PowerShell and open JSON slot into your existing Azure, SIEM and automation tooling.

Getting Started

Note: When creating the VM, the password must contain at least 14 characters, including uppercase, lowercase, numbers and symbols.

Deploy the image, run verify and generate your first report - a verified, compliant server in minutes. Full documentation: docs.cloudinfrastructureservices.co.uk

Learn more about our Hardened images - CloudInfra Secure Images

CloudInfra Secure helps organisations secure their server infrastructure.