Which process secures a host or application by reducing its attack surface through running only necessary services, installing monitoring software, and establishing a maintenance schedule to apply patches?

Which process secures a host or application by reducing its attack surface through running only necessary services, installing monitoring software, and establishing a maintenance schedule to apply patches?

• A. Hardening
• B. Fortification
• C. Lockdown
• D. Minimization of services

Answer: (A)

Hardening is the practice of securing a host or application by reducing its exposure to threats. This involves removing or disabling unnecessary services to shrink the attack surface, installing monitoring software to detect and alert on suspicious activity, and establishing a patch management routine to apply updates and fixes. Taken together, these steps strengthen the system’s configuration and ensure ongoing protection, which is why hardening best fits the description. While minimizing services is a key action within hardening, the term that covers the full, ongoing process—including monitoring and patching—is hardening.

Hardening is the practice of securing a host or application by reducing its exposure to threats. This involves removing or disabling unnecessary services to shrink the attack surface, installing monitoring software to detect and alert on suspicious activity, and establishing a patch management routine to apply updates and fixes. Taken together, these steps strengthen the system’s configuration and ensure ongoing protection, which is why hardening best fits the description. While minimizing services is a key action within hardening, the term that covers the full, ongoing process—including monitoring and patching—is hardening.