System hardening means securing and configuring a system in such a way that it reduces its surface of vulnerability to a great extent. This is done largely by removing unnecessary software, hardening default credentials, disabling unnecessary services, and modifying other configuration parameters from default values so that the system works securely for a focused set of services.
Hardening is usually done by following industry standard configuration guidelines, such as from CIS (Centre for Internet Security) and/or vendor hardening guidelines. These need to be carefully modified to ensure that the functionality of the system is not impacted.
System hardening needs more than just standards. It needs years of experience and expertise in various IT infrastructure designs, products, software and solutions. It is a process of defining various blocks and then securely installing or configuring those individually, to form a robust and secure system. SECUGENIUS has expertise in the areas of hardening Microsoft, Unix and Linux platform, various database engines, application servers as well as network parameter defence devices such as routers, firewall and intrusion detection systems.