Safeguards

Hardening

What does hardening a system mean?

Hardening means reducing a system to what it genuinely needs. Everything that is not needed is switched off: unused services, open access paths, default accounts and sample files.

Systems ship configured for convenience, not for security. A freshly installed server brings along services that nobody in your business uses. Each of those services is a door. Each door can carry a weakness. What is switched off cannot be attacked.

The usual steps are quickly named. Change default passwords, disable default accounts, close services and ports that are not needed, restrict remote access, switch on logging, and grant rights so that each account may do only what its task requires.

Hardening is not a one time exercise. With every update, every new piece of software and every change to the business, new services appear. Record what a system should look like in your environment and check at intervals whether it still looks that way.

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Related terms

Patch management and updates Patch management is the disciplined handling of security updates. A patch is the correction a vendor issues to close a security f… Permission model and least privilege A permission model defines who may access which data. The principle of least privilege gives every account exactly the rights its… Attack surface An attack surface is the sum of all the points through which someone could enter your IT: every reachable device, account, applic… IT asset inventory An IT asset inventory is an up to date list of every device, application, account and service your business uses. It records what…

All terms in the knowledge base

Note: This entry reflects the state of knowledge to the best of our understanding and serves as general orientation. It is not legal advice. What counts is always the version currently in force at the responsible body, for example dsb.gv.at, nis.gv.at or enisa.europa.eu.

From the term to practice

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