Linux and Unix Security Auditing, System Hardening, and Compliance Testing With Lynis

CISOfy is a Netherlands-based security software company serving system administrators, security engineers, and auditors responsible for Unix-based infrastructure. Founder Michael Boelen registered the business with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce in October 2013, building it around Lynis, the open source auditing tool he had maintained for several years beforehand alongside Rootkit Hunter. The stated mission is to give security professionals, up to the CISO, practical tools for measuring their security efforts on Linux and Unix estates.

Lynis runs directly on the host rather than probing it across the network, and works opportunistically: it identifies the operating system, discovers the software components and libraries actually present, then executes only the tests those components support, so no external dependencies are needed. Hundreds of individual checks carry unique identifiers such as KRNL-6000 and are grouped by category. Administrators can disable overly strict tests, add custom ones, and extend collection through plugins that gather additional system data.

The enterprise edition layers central management over the same agents, running daily security health scans across a fleet and converting findings into prioritized action plans and reports, delivered either as a hosted service or self-installed where cloud use is restricted. Coverage reaches well past mainstream Linux to AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, the BSDs, macOS, and small devices, with tests mapped to CIS, NIST, NSA, and OpenSCAP guidance. The positioning emphasizes preventive hardening over reactive patch chasing.