The CIS Benchmarks are a comprehensive resource of documents covering many operating systems and applications.

Start with industry standard best practices Proven, established security standards are the best choice – and this applies to server hardening as well. It is rarely a good idea to try to invent something new when attempting to solve a security or cryptography problem. As a result, an attacker has fewer opportunities to compromise the server.Ĭreate configuration standards to ensure a consistent approach By removing software that is not needed and by configuring the remaining software to maximise security the attack surface can be reduced. This includes all network interfaces and installed software. The attack surface is all the different points where an attacker can to attempt to access or damage the server. The aim of server hardening is to reduce the attack surface of the server.

Server Hardening is requirement of security frameworks such as PCI-DSS and is typically included when organisations adopt ISO27001. Server hardening is a set of disciplines and techniques which improve the security of an ‘off the shelf’ server.

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