Operating System Hardening

Operating system hardening is a type of system hardening practice that involves updating, patching and implementing advanced security measures and service packs to protect an operating system (OS) of a computer system. Furthermore, OS security hardening can be achieved through endpoint protection, patch management, access control, configuration management, group policies and related security measures. Organizations harden their operating systems through security hardening standards, and security policies and principles.

System hardening involves securing software applications of a computer, the operating system, the firmware, the database, the network, and other critical computing components of a computer system and related assets.

Common types of system hardening include the following:

• Server hardening
• Operating system hardening
• Network hardening
• Database hardening
• Software application hardening

Common operating system hardening techniques include the following:

• Apply patches and updates
• Deploy antimalware
• Least privilege principles based access to the underlying OS features
• Establish Access control systems
• Enable only required services and disable services that are not required
• Conduct security awareness training to personnel
• Create close partnership with the vendor or provider of the OS
• Configure firewall and update it continuously
• Apply service packs and hotfixes in timely manner
• Use account and group account policies
• Manage permissions and rights of users
• Apply robust security configuration and settings
• Enable logging and event monitoring
• Follow secure filesystem configurations
• Remove legacy services