Cybersecurity Glossary
Hardening
Reducing a system to what it actually needs, and turning off the rest.
What Hardening means
Hardening means disabling unused services, removing default accounts, closing unnecessary ports, applying a recognised configuration baseline and switching off legacy protocols. Published baselines from vendors and from bodies such as CIS make this a matter of application rather than invention.
Why Hardening matters for small businesses and nonprofits
Default configurations favour compatibility over security, because vendors do not want support calls. A default installation therefore has a much larger attack surface than the same system after an hour of deliberate configuration.
What to do about Hardening
- Apply a recognised baseline rather than writing your own from scratch
- Disable legacy authentication and legacy file sharing protocols
- Record exceptions with a reason and a review date
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