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Security Intermediate

What is Security Hardening?

The process of reducing a system's attack surface by disabling unnecessary services, applying patches, and configuring security controls.

Security hardening systematically reduces vulnerabilities in servers, applications, and networks. Steps include removing unused software and services, applying security patches promptly, configuring firewalls (deny by default), enabling SELinux/AppArmor, setting strong password policies, disabling root SSH login, using key-based authentication, implementing file integrity monitoring, securing boot processes, and following CIS Benchmarks. For web servers: disable directory listing, remove version headers, configure secure TLS ciphers, set security headers (CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options). Hardening should be automated through configuration management tools (Ansible, Chef) and validated regularly through vulnerability scanning.

Related Terms

JWT (JSON Web Token)
A compact, self-contained token format used for securely transmitting information between parties as a JSON object.
XSS (Cross-Site Scripting)
An attack that injects malicious scripts into web pages viewed by other users, potentially stealing data or session tokens.
SIEM (Security Information and Event Management)
A platform that collects, correlates, and analyzes security events from across an organization to detect threats and incidents.
Security Headers
HTTP response headers that instruct browsers to enable security features like XSS protection, framing prevention, and content type enforcement.
DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service)
An attack that floods a target server or network with traffic from multiple sources to overwhelm it and deny service to legitimate users.
Firewall Rules
Configuration entries that define which network traffic is allowed or blocked based on source, destination, port, and protocol.
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