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Difficulty: MediumWorkstation Hardening and Best Practices

During a security assessment at a financial firm, auditors observe that employees frequently leave their Windows workstations unattended when stepping away from their desks, allowing unauthorized personnel to view sensitive customer data on active sessions. Which of the following workstation hardening measures should the IT technician implement to automatically secure idle sessions?

  1. Enforce a screen saver timeout policy that requires a password to resume the session.Answer
  2. B
    Disable the default local Guest account on each workstation.
  3. C
    Secure each workstation chassis to the desk using a steel cable lock.
  4. D
    Configure Event Viewer to monitor audit logs for interactive logon events.

Answer

Enforce a screen saver timeout policy that requires a password to resume the session.
Enforcing a screen saver timeout policy requiring a password on resume is an effective security control against walk-away risks. When an employee leaves a desktop unattended, the operating system detects inactivity, starts the screen saver, and locks the console. Any attempt to resume interaction requires entering the user's password, effectively preventing passersby from accessing sensitive data.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the primary threat presented in the scenario.
The core vulnerability is unauthorized physical access to active, logged-in user sessions due to unattended workstations.
Employees are walking away without manually locking their operating system sessions.
2
Evaluate potential workstation hardening controls to address session hijacking.
Automated session locking via screen saver timeout policies or screen locks enforces protection without relying solely on manual user compliance.
Configuring a screen saver lock forces the system to lock after a specified threshold of inactivity and demands valid user credentials to unlock.
3
Select the option that directly automates screen locking upon inactivity.
Enforcing a screen saver timeout policy with password protection on resume directly resolves the issue.
This is the standard CompTIA-recommended hardening procedure for preventing walk-away session vulnerability.

Key Concept

Workstation Hardening: Screen Lock and Inactivity Timeout Policies
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Topics

Workstation Hardening and Best Practices

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