What is the focus of system hardening?

The focus of system hardening is to secure the operating system by reducing vulnerabilities. This process involves implementing various measures and best practices to minimize potential attack surfaces and safeguard the system against threats. System hardening typically includes configuring system settings with security in mind, removing unnecessary services and applications, applying patches and updates, enforcing strong authentication mechanisms, and ensuring that configurations adhere to security policies.

By concentrating on reducing vulnerabilities, system hardening effectively strengthens the overall security posture of the system, making it more resilient to cyber threats and exploits. This critical activity is essential for maintaining the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of data and resources within an environment.