Hardening

What is Hardening?

System hardening involves configuring operating systems, applications, and network devices to minimize vulnerabilities. Steps include disabling unnecessary services, removing default accounts, applying security patches, configuring strong authentication, enabling logging, restricting file permissions, and implementing the principle of least privilege. Security benchmarks like CIS Benchmarks provide specific hardening guidelines for different platforms. Regular hardening audits ensure configurations don't drift from the secure baseline.