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Difficulty: MediumWorkstation Hardening and Best Practices

A security technician is configuring operating system baseline settings for a workstation that will be deployed to a high-security research facility. The workstation must adhere to the principle of least functionality by reducing unnecessary network-facing vulnerabilities before network placement. Which of the following workstation hardening practices directly accomplishes this objective?

  1. Disabling unneeded background services and unrequired OS features to minimize the system attack surface.Answer
  2. B
    Installing physical cable locks and privacy screens to block unauthorized network traffic and protocol inspection.
  3. C
    Configuring Event Viewer MMC snap-in to actively block incoming port connection requests.
  4. D
    Modifying Indexing Options in Control Panel to inspect and filter network traffic crossing local directories.

Answer

Disabling unneeded background services and unrequired OS features to minimize the system attack surface.
Disabling unnecessary background OS services, applications, and ports directly implements system hardening by enforcing the principle of least functionality. Reducing running components minimizes the potential attack surface available to unauthorized network actors.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the scenario requirements.
Identified the need to enforce the principle of least functionality and reduce network attack vectors on a new workstation.
Workstation hardening mandates turning off default features, open ports, and services that are not strictly necessary for system operation.
2
Evaluate the technical effectiveness of each security control.
Turning off unused background services closes listening ports and removes unnecessary software execution paths.
Every active service represents a potential entry point for exploits if unpatched or misconfigured.

Key Concept

Workstation Hardening via Service Reduction
Estimated Time:1m 15s
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Topics

Workstation Hardening and Best Practices

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