System Hardening..

Introduction to System Hardening
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System hardening is a auditing process in which we try to scan and check each and every aspect of security from settings to updated versions of system softwares which may or may not lead to a system compromisation.

Windows: Critical Systems with OS (Servers 2008 onwards)
Windows: Non Critical Systems with OS (Simple OS inhouse computers)
Windows: Hardware Devices in scope (CCTV Camera with Windows Mobile OS inside it etc.)

System Hardening is a very critical audit process in which every aspect of security is being considered to be a serious issue, majority of the comapnies are maintaining the system security with AD control framework. Hence no one audit a single pc manualy which is the gap which we fullfil as an auditor on the client site.

Sample Checklist of Windows 7 : Control List

Basic Security Configurations : Checking the outdated softwares in the environment, checking the old hardware having old firmware application running, applications running with vulnerable version. etc.

Automated Security Analyzers
-> Script (For Example: Sub Domain Finder)
-> nmap
-> SPARTA

Linux System Hardening
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lynis
Lynis - Security auditing and hardening tool, for UNIX-based systems.
Lynis is a security auditing for UNIX derivatives like Linux, macOS, BSD, and others. It performs an in-depth security scan and runs on the system itself. The primary goal is to test security defenses and provide tips for further system hardening. It will also scan for general system information, vulnerable software packages, and possible configuration issues. Lynis was commonly used by people in the "blue team" to assess the security defenses of their systems. Nowadays, penetration testers also have Lynis in their toolkit.

We believe software should be simple, updated on a regular basis, and open. You should be able to trust, understand, and have the option to change the software. Many agree with us, as the software is being used by thousands every day to protect their systems.

Goals

The main goals are:

Automated security auditing
Compliance testing (e.g. ISO27001, PCI-DSS, HIPAA)
Vulnerability detection
The software (also) assists with:

Configuration management
Software patch management
System hardening
Penetration testing
Intrusion detection
Audience

Typical users of the software:

System administrators
Auditors
Security officers
Security professionals
Installation

Git

Clone or download the project files (no compilation nor installation is required) ;

 git clone https://github.com/CISOfy/lynis
Execute:

 ./lynis audit system