Which Hardening Step Fixes It?

About this interactive

Every piece of equipment arrives with vulnerabilities. It left the factory weeks or months ago, so its firmware, operating system and software are already out of date, with known flaws people can use. And it arrives with everything turned on, because the maker wants it to work with as few steps as possible. What to harden: everything you put on the network. Firewalls, routers, switches, wireless access points and controllers, VoIP phones, servers, laptops and desktops, copiers and printers, cameras, IoT appliances. The general steps (each kind of device has its own details to look up): - Patch the firmware, operating system and software. - Change the default passwords. - Disable or remove unneeded hardware, ports, services and functions. - Set a BIOS password and the boot order, so nobody can change the settings or boot from their own USB stick and bypass your security. - Remove bloatware and any malicious code. - Validate software sources: download from the maker (the OEM), or make sure a third-party site is legitimate, and check the file's hash against the value the maker publishes. (A hash posted on the same untrusted site as the file proves little.) A baseline is the standard each kind of device is raised to: the minimum you must do to put it on the network securely, written up as a checklist for switches, firewalls, laptops and so on.

What you'll learn

Choose the hardening step that fixes what is wrong with a newly arrived device: update it, change its default password, disable what is not needed, lock its boot settings, or clean and verify its software
Explain why new equipment arrives insecure, and how a baseline sets the minimum each kind of device must be raised to

Aligned to

ISC2 CC

5.4 Understand asset protection

NIST 800-53

CM-7 Least Functionality

CM-2 Baseline Configuration

CompTIA Security+

2.5 Explain the purpose of mitigation techniques used to secure the enterprise.

4.1 Given a scenario, apply common security techniques to computing resources.

Cisco CCST Cybersecurity

3.3 Verify that endpoint systems meet security policies and standards

NIST CSF

PR.PS-01 Configuration management practices are established and applied.

Key terms

Equipment Hardening: The process of securing a device by reducing its attack surface through disabling unneeded features, updating software, and applying security configurations before deployment on a network.
Firmware: Permanent software embedded in a device's non-volatile memory that controls its hardware functions and low-level operations; it bridges the hardware and any higher-level software.
Patch: A software update released by a developer to fix security vulnerabilities, bugs, or functionality issues in an operating system or application.
Default Credentials: Factory-set usernames and passwords that ship with network devices, applications, and services. Default credentials must be changed immediately upon deployment because they are publicly documented and frequently targeted by automated attackers.
Least Functionality: A security principle that requires systems to be configured with only the essential capabilities needed to perform their intended function, reducing exposure to potential threats.
Attack Surface: The total set of points in a system where an unauthorized user can attempt to enter or extract data.
BIOS Password: A password configured in BIOS settings to prevent unauthorized users from accessing or modifying system firmware configurations.
Boot Order: The sequence in which a computer's BIOS or UEFI firmware attempts to load an operating system from available storage devices and interfaces.
Bloatware: Unnecessary pre-installed or feature-bloated software that consumes excessive storage, processing power, and bandwidth, degrading overall system performance.
Hash Function: A mathematical algorithm that converts input data of any size into a fixed-size output value used to verify data integrity.
Baseline: A documented set of minimum security standards or performance metrics used as a reference point.

Topics

Equipment Hardening Baseline Patch Interactive Categorize

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