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Difficulty: MediumWorkstation Hardening and Best Practices

An IT support technician is deploying a shared workstation in a financial service firm's reception area. To protect sensitive client financial records from unauthorized exfiltration, company policy requires that standard users be restricted from reading or writing data to external flash drives, while essential USB peripherals such as keyboards and mice remain fully functional. Which of the following is the most effective workstation hardening action to fulfill this requirement?

  1. Configure Removable Storage Access policies in the Local Group Policy Editor to deny access to removable disks.Answer
  2. B
    Disable the main USB Root Hub device within Device Manager.
  3. C
    Disable the default local Guest account and enforce account lockout thresholds.
  4. D
    Configure Task Scheduler to terminate the Windows File Explorer process when a new volume is detected.

Answer

Configure Removable Storage Access policies in the Local Group Policy Editor to deny access to removable disks.
Configuring Removable Storage Access policies in the Local Group Policy Editor allows administrators to block read and write permissions specifically for USB flash drives and external disks while permitting USB Human Interface Devices (such as keyboards and mice) to operate normally.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the technical requirements and constraints.
USB mass storage devices must be blocked to prevent data loss, but USB Human Interface Devices (HID) must remain operational.
Disabling the entire USB controller hardware would render the workstation unusable.
2
Identify the appropriate administrative tool and policy path.
Navigate to Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) under Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> Removable Storage Access.
Group Policy provides targeted control over device classes rather than global driver shutdown.
3
Apply the granular access restriction.
Enable policies such as 'Removable Disks: Deny read access' and 'Removable Disks: Deny write access'.
This selectively prevents storage mounting and data transfer while leaving peripheral input drivers unaffected.

Key Concept

Removable Storage Restriction via Local Group Policy
Estimated Time:1m 15s
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Topics

Workstation Hardening and Best Practices

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