2.2. Configuration Hardening

Disabling or restricting access to network services is just one aspect of operating-system hardening. Once the network attack surface has been minimized and unnecessary services have been disabled, you may want to turn inward and look at how the configuration of the operating system and the remaining operational services can be adjusted to improve the overall security of the system.

This section highlights a number of ways in which you can adjust the default configuration to improve the overall security of the system. The degree to which you harden the OS is wholly dependent upon your operational and environmental conditions, but as a general rule the following are generally accepted operating system security recommendations.