For an upcoming security audit, a junior administrator must apply basic hardening steps to fifty Windows and Linux workstations that will be issued to remote employees. Which of the following actions represents a fundamental system-hardening control that should be completed before deployment?
Install all vendor-supplied security updates and critical patches.
Enable guest accounts on each system to simplify initial user logins.
Create a local administrator account with the same strong password on every workstation.
Configure the host firewall to allow all outbound ports by default.
Applying all vendor-supplied security updates and critical patches ensures that known vulnerabilities in the operating system and installed applications are remediated before the systems are exposed to users or the internet. Enabling guest accounts, opening all outbound firewall ports, or using the same local administrator password across machines would each increase the attack surface and therefore do not constitute proper hardening.
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Why is regularly updating systems considered a best practice for security?
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What is the risk of using vendor-supplied default passwords on devices?
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How does disabling a firewall decrease system security?