Question

Difficulty: MediumWorkstation Hardening and Best Practices

An IT support specialist is hardening newly deployed desktop computers in a corporate training center accessible to visiting contractors and temporary staff. To enforce account security best practices and minimize the local attack surface on these endpoints, which of the following actions should the technician take?

  1. Disable the built-in Guest account and rename the default local Administrator account while creating unique maintenance accounts.Answer
  2. B
    Enable the built-in Guest account and assign it to the local Administrators group so temporary users can run software updates.
  3. C
    Use Event Viewer to configure interactive logon banner messages and enforce automatic session lockouts for idle users.
  4. D
    Attach physical privacy filters to the workstation monitors to prevent unauthorized network access over local wireless connections.

Answer

Disable the built-in Guest account and rename the default local Administrator account while creating unique maintenance accounts.
Disabling default accounts such as Guest and securing built-in Administrator accounts is a fundamental OS hardening baseline step that removes predictable targets for credential attacks.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the security requirement for endpoint account hardening.
Recognize that default accounts present a known target for unauthorized access.
Hardening best practices require reducing the attack surface by eliminating default or unnecessary accounts.
2
Evaluate account management controls.
Disabling the Guest account and renaming the default Administrator account neutralizes common brute-force target names.
Attackers frequently attempt automated login attacks using standard default account names like 'Guest' or 'Administrator'.

Key Concept

Workstation Hardening Account Baselines
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