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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

DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing)
Testing a running application from the outside by sending malicious requests to discover security vulnerabilities.
Vulnerability Scanning
Automated testing that identifies known security weaknesses in systems, applications, and network infrastructure.
API Security
Practices and mechanisms for protecting APIs from unauthorized access, data breaches, and abuse.
Rate Limiting
A technique that controls the number of requests a client can make to a server within a specified time period.
PKI (Public Key Infrastructure)
A framework of policies, hardware, and software for creating, managing, distributing, and revoking digital certificates.
Man-in-the-Middle Attack
An attack where the attacker secretly intercepts and potentially alters communication between two parties who believe they are communicating directly.
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