Running Head: SECURITY HARDENING 1

SECURITY HARDENING

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Windows Hardening Recommendations

To enhance user account security, we provide several windows hardening

practices that may be used to harden the Windows security and protect against

unauthorized access into the organization's information systems. Some

recommendations include robust password policies and user account controls that

ensure top-notch security (Monrose et al., 2012). Further details are provided in the

sections below.

Regarding password use, the system should be configured only to allow strong

passwords from user accounts. A secure password must be at least eight characters

long and consist of various types of characters (Monrose et al., 2012). Strong

passwords make it hard for cybercriminals to guess or crack using such approaches as

dictionary attacks. As part of the procedural security controls, a clean desk policy should

be enforced at the organization to ensure that the employees do not put pieces of paper

containing critical information around their workstations. The policy should also require

that no employee writes down their passwords (Monrose et al., 2012).

Another control target users who have multiple user accounts. To ensure

maximum security, these users must have different passwords for the different user

accounts they use. Having different passwords is critical in preventing a significant

breach of security if a cybercriminal managed to obtain the password. That is to say

that, if a hacker managed to steal credentials for a single user account, then the other

accounts would not be compromised. As well, the users who have multiple accounts

should only use their accounts for the roles that the accounts are primarily dedicated

for. That measure would allow system administrators to recognize any unusual activities
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in the user account characterized by the use of an account to perform roles for which it

is not authorized.

Anonymous users accessing web servers are required to do so via a

demilitarized zone (DMZ). In internet security, DMZs are used to act as extra security

layers to protect an organization's network systems from external access. The local

area network used by the organization is protected by a firewall that closely monitors

and filters network traffic that goes in and out of the network systems. Once correctly

installed, the DMZ can help identify and mitigate security threats before they reach

Always Fresh's network.

When authenticating access into the servers, the systems must ensure that the

source computer has been established. The source of the computer constitutes the

location of the computer and the type of user. It is critical to identify computers that try to

connect to the organization's servers from a remote location as well as those that

access the servers from inside the company's site.

Employees from the company who work from their homes must use a VPN to

ensure that security of Always Fresh's systems are protected in case cybercriminals

compromise security. Any user who attempts to access the servers anonymously

should be shut out. Often, cybercriminals try to access the company's systems by hiding

their details as well as a means of covering their tracks. Any unusual login activity,

regardless of the source computer, should be flagged immediately. Such action includes

multiple wrong password inputs and any other attempts to circumvent the typical

security setup (Durve & Bouridane, 2017). The system should block an account that has

multiple wrong password inputs. If an employee's account is blocked, they need to

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contact the system administrator to retrieve the report. A customer whose account is

blocked as well requires to contact Always Fresh's customer service team to recover

their accounts (Durve & Bouridane, 2017).

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References

Durve, R., & Bouridane, A. (2017, September). Windows 10 security hardening using

device guard whitelisting and Applocker blacklisting. In 2017 Seventh

International Conference on Emerging Security Technologies (EST) (pp. 56-61).

IEEE. Retrieved from https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8090399/

Monrose, F., Reiter, M. K., & Wetzel, S. (2012). Password hardening based on

keystroke dynamics. International Journal of Information security, 1(2), 69-83.

Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s102070100006.pdf