Operating System Hardening

Before this class, I assumed that hardening operating systems was a relatively basic concept that more than likely entailed protecting a system from malware and other malicious software. However, I now know that it actually encompasses so much more. From utilizing Active Directory GPOS to ensure an organization is following the practice of least privilege, to adjusting and tailoring backup and restoring policies with the needs of an organization, there are many thing that can be used to harden an operating system. The most interesting one in my opinion that I learned more about during this course was the ability to backup and restore a server and system. Not only are there multiple methods for this, it is also something that I feel gets overlooked when talking about hardening a system, this could be in part that it isn’t as cool as dealing with malware. However, it really goes hand in hand because if a system is compromised and data needs to be scrubbed and deleted, then the organization is going to have to find some way to get that lost data back otherwise there is a lot of time and money wasted. This is exactly where backups and restorations come into play. If an organization follows a concrete and efficient backup plan, then all important data can be retrievable after an attack on information systems. This not only saves companies time and money, but it can also save their reputation because they will be able to get back on track quickly and efficiently with losing little to no data.

Chris