Question

Difficulty: EasyWorkstation Hardening and Best Practices

An IT technician is establishing a local user account security baseline for standalone Windows office workstations. Which TWO configuration steps are recommended best practices for hardening local user accounts on these systems?

  1. Disable or rename built-in default accounts, such as the Administrator and Guest accounts.Answer
  2. B
    Assign standard end users to the local Administrators group to minimize permission elevation requests.
  3. Configure account lockout thresholds to lock user accounts after a specified number of failed logon attempts.Answer
  4. D
    Attach physical security cable locks to safeguard user account databases against network-based password attacks.

Answer

Disabling or renaming built-in default accounts and configuring account lockout thresholds are recommended best practices for hardening local user accounts.
Workstation account hardening requires adhering to the principle of least privilege and mitigating brute-force attacks. Disabling or renaming built-in default accounts (such as Guest and Administrator) removes well-known authentication targets. Setting account lockout thresholds prevents attackers from attempting unlimited password combinations.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Address default administrative and guest accounts.
Disabling or renaming built-in accounts eliminates well-known targets.
Attackers frequently target default names like Administrator or Guest during initial reconnaissance.
2
Enforce account authentication protections.
Configuring account lockout policies restricts repeated invalid password attempts.
Lockout policies prevent unauthorized password cracking through automated brute-force tools.

Key Concept

Local Account Hardening Best Practices
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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