This document is meant for use in conjunction with other applicable STIGs, such as, but not limited to, Browsers, Antivirus, and other desktop applications. A new security function blocks untrustworthy fonts (truetype fonts) but is not active in the default settings. We thought we should supplement secure score to help people in all these scenarios with the security configuration framework. The main record made when you install Windows is an authoritative record. In the past, we left defining the security configuration for Windows 10 as a task for every customer to sort out. This blog was written by an independent guest blogger. Regulatory Compliance: Not provided. It’s context-aware, driven by your existing configuration and the threats impacting your environment. the Start menu and the Action Center), the forced updates, the integration of cloud services, and the logging of user behavior have all caused annoyance. Through the top recommendations, we suggest a prioritized list for securing your devices, with a relative ranking of the overall impact to your security posture. Rather than making an itemized list, we grouped recommendations into coherent and discrete groups, which makes it easier for you to see where you stand in terms of your defensive posture. This year, there have been at least three privilege escalation vulnerabilities (MS16-032, MS16-111, and MS16-124), for which functioning exploits were published within a few days of the patch being released. What’s more, cloud functions are active in the default settings which users may not want to utilize at all. If you’re earlier in your journey, then you should find level 5 a great starting point and can then balance the enhanced security of higher levels against your application readiness and risk tolerance. 1.1 MB: Windows 10 Version 1809 and Windows … Free to Everyone. The hardening checklist can be used for all Windows versions, but the GroupPolicyEditor is not integrated into Windows 10 Home; adjustments have to be carried out directly in the registry. Also,... Motherboard: Secure Boot. The integrated Windows Defender solution can be used as anti-virus software. Windows 10 Hardening Introduction. Windows 10 Anniversary Edition (v1607), for better or worse! Review and tweak before running. I also get questions from customers who are just now planning their Windows 10 deployment and are hoping to configure as many security features as possible – but since they haven’t deployed yet, they don’t have guidance from the Microsoft Defender ATP Secure Score yet (we’ll discuss that in a minute) – how can they prioritize the features to initially enable? For example, user behavior can be analyzed by capturing telemetry data. Ideally, NTLM should be completely deactivated or restricted to specific IP addresses. Windows Server 2016 Hardening Checklist The hardening checklists are based on the comprehensive checklists produced by the Center for Internet Security (CIS). This is a hardening checklist that can be used in private and business environments for hardening Windows 10. While building out this framework, we thought: what are key considerations for a security professional in today’s world? a clean install of Windows 10 is pretty good, that said, I do have the following advice: It is important to properly configure User Account Control on all machines; out of the box it is very insecure meaning anything can bypass it to grab admin privileges. A best practice is to format the hard drive and install legitimate and still supported software. If you’re an organization that’s already looking to Windows security baselines to provide advanced levels of security (now also available in preview for Intune), then level 3 incorporates these baselines as the foundation. Understanding where you lie in a continuum of security is also valuable. Microsoft has officially stopped support for Windows XP on April 8th, 2014. Used systems with pre-loaded software may contain malware. He is an expert at penetration testing, hardening and the detection of vulnerabilities in operating systems. The checklist can be used for all Windows versions, but in Windows 10 Home the Group Policy Editor is not integrated and the adjustment must be done directly in the registry. By default, many applications We are eager to gather feedback on how we could make this guidance more useful, and if there are security controls and configurations you feel may be misplaced (or missing)! Thanks! Why is this so important? Gone are the bloat of Xbox integration and services and the need for third-party security solutions to fill security gaps. This is the question security professionals must constantly ask themselves. Considering your system’s security settings leads to a better understanding of the system and your requirements, which in turn improves the security of the overall system. scip AG, Badenerstrasse 623, 8048 Zürich, Switzerland, Data Privacy Notice | Vulnerability Disclosure | Jobs, RSS News | RSS Blog | Alexa Flash Briefing, VulDB | Titanium Report | Interdisciplinary Artificial Intelligence Quotient Scale | Secure Transfer Server, Security Research of Anti-Virus Software project, https://benchmarks.cisecurity.org/tools2/windows/CIS_Microsoft_Windows_10_Enterprise_RTM_Release_1507_Benchmark_v1.0.0.pdf, https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/srd/2016/11/03/beyond-emet/, https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/list?can=1&q=owner%3Ataviso%40google.com, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privilege_escalation, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return-oriented_programming, https://github.com/0×6d69636b/windows_hardening/, https://insights.sei.cmu.edu/author/will-dormann/, https://insights.sei.cmu.edu/cert/2016/11/windows-10-cannot-protect-insecure-applications-like-emet-can.html, https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/jj653751, Interdisciplinary Artificial Intelligence Quotient Scale. Windows 10 Hardening Techniques. User Configuration. This is a hardening checklist that can be used in private and business environments for hardening Windows 10. … Windows Defender offers adequate protection against known malware and has not been found to have any serious weaknesses. Target Operational Environment: Managed; Testing Information: This guide was tested on a machine running Microsoft Windows 10 1803. Windows Server 2019 ships and installs with an existing level of hardening that is significantly more secure compared to previous Windows Server operating systems. EMET should therefore continue to be operated on a correctly hardened system. Encryption. Its a great base reference for securing your Windows infrastructure. Another benefit is that it's simple enough to use that anyone can enjoy its benefits. Modern Windows Server editions force you to do this, but make sure the password for the local... 2. While Windows Defender Antivirus makes catching 5 billion threats on devices every month look easy, multiple advanced detection and prevention technologies work under the hood to make this happen. DEVELOP HARDENING CHECKLIST FOR WINDOWS 10 5 such as expelling backing for AciveX, Browner Helper Objects (BHO), VBScript, and VML. This is done via network installation, with Computer Management Framework (CMF) [1]configuring the appropriate software and hardened policies for the machine. Installation Media. These include the storage function OneDrive and the speech recognition software Cortana. Operating System: Regular Updates. Based on the CIS Microsoft Windows 10 Benchmarks, I have created a checklist that can be used to harden Windows 10 in both the private and business domain. We are also exploring ways to provide useful comparisons using this framework. The full checklist with all settings can be downloaded in text format. Windows Defender offers adequate protection against known malware and has not been found to have any serious weaknesses. Microsoft loves to collect your data, and they love to do this a little bit too much. The use of NT LAN Manager (NTLM) is also a security-related topic for Windows 10. It is therefore possible to switch off the logging and transmission of error messages to Microsoft, reduce the capturing of telemetry data to a minimum (it can only be switched off completely in the Enterprise version), and deactivate cloud applications such as OneDrive or Cortana. Because bad people have, through innovations of commerce on the dark web, devised a system of cooperation that is shockingly effective. Search Google, or Bing ;), for the Windows hardening guide from the University of Texas at Austin. To protect against unauthorized physical access, the hard drive should be encrypted. EMET includes measures against known exploits such as heap spraying, and Return Oriented Programming. Hardening an operating system (OS) is one of the most important steps toward sound information security. This function should therefore be activated. Since 2010 he is focused on information security. You can find the draft security configuration framework documentation and provide us feedback at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/windows-security-configuration-framework/windows-security-configuration-framework. To protect against unauthorized physical access, the hard drive should be encrypted. Being the best in security is of course aspirational, but being the worst is something you must avoid! Standardization has many advantages, so we developed a security configuration framework to help simplify security configuration while still allowing enough flexibility to allow you to balance security, productivity, and user experience. Some of these functions were even withheld from enterprise customers, such as Credential and Device Guard. In Windows 10, Windows Defender comes with real-time antivirus capabilities. Application hardening When applications are installed they are often not pre-configured in a secure state. This Windows IIS server hardening checklist will ensure server hardening policies are implemented correctly during installation. [ The essentials for Windows 10 installation: ... Device Guard relies on Windows hardening such as Secure Boot. Support for EMET will stop at the end of July 2018, as Microsoft has integrated the majority of the functions into Windows 10. As you go through it, you may recognize a need for policies you haven’t thought of before. ; It is important to make sure that Secure Boot is enabled on all machines. The settings should be seen as security recommendations; before accepting them, check carefully whether they will affect the operation of your infrastructure or impair the usability of key functions. In this initial draft, we have defined 5 discrete levels of security configuration. Welcome to my Windows 10 hardening guide. A step-by-step checklist to secure Microsoft Windows Desktop: Download Latest CIS Benchmark. The Windows Server Hardening Checklist 1. We are defining discrete prescriptive Windows 10 security configurations (levels 5 through 1) to meet many of the common device scenarios we see today in the enterprise. Scant attention was paid to improving security functions and settings. Join discussions at the Microsoft Defender ATP community. Most of these issues can be managed using group policies and deactivated if required. In a Security Research of Anti-Virus Software project, Travis Ormandy, researcher in Google’s Project Zero, found that, unlike competitor products, Windows Defender did not have any critical vulnerabilities that impaired the security of the operating system. Secure installation. You see, there is no perfect score in security; everyone could always get better. We are defining discrete prescriptive Windows 10 security configurations (levels 5 through 1) to meet many of the common device scenarios we see today in the enterprise. Nearly every security architect I’ve met with has a pile of security assessments on their desk (and a list of vendors eager to give them more); their challenge is never identifying something that they can do, but identifying which is the next most important thing to do from the massive list they have already identified! NTLM should now only be used in version 2 (NTLMv2); all other versions (NTLMv1 and LM) should be rejected. Clean up unwanted programs. System hardening is the process of securing systems in order to reduce their attack surface. Mimicking the DEFCON levels used to determine alert state by the United States Armed Forces, lower numbers indicate a higher degree of security hardening: How do you choose the configuration that’s best for your organization? It is tempting to think that the process of securing a Windows 10 device can be reduced to a simple checklist. Initial enthusiasm for Windows 10 was muted and has not increased much since the launch. The security configuration framework is designed to assist with exactly this scenario. The software runs in the background, scanning your files and offering a basic level of protection for all Windows 10 users. Microsoft is a leader in cybersecurity, and we embrace our responsibility to make the world a safer place. Checklist Summary: The Windows 10 Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) is published as a tool to improve the security of Department of Defense (DoD) information systems. 1.5 MB. This is a hardening checklist that can be used in private and business environments for hardening Windows 10. As operating systems evolve ... What is hardening? This chapter outlines system hardening processes for operating systems, applications and authentication mechanisms. This links the hard drive to the individual system’s hardware. - Windows 10 Workstation - Windows Server 2019 File Server - Windows Server 2019 Internet Facing SFTP Server. The Windows 10 operating system was released about 15 months ago and is being used increasingly for both private and business purposes. Ideally, Bitlocker should be used in combination with SecureBoot. Multiple next-generation protection engines to detect and stop a wide range of threats and attacker techniques at multiple points, providing industry-best detection and blocking capabilities. Installing Windows updates promptly is key to maintaining the system’s security and the process should not be deactivated under any circumstances. Windows 10 Hardening Introduction. But without an absolute target to pursue, how do you get a sense of how good is good enough? If an attacker can capture the NTLM challenge response process, such as by manipulating the network traffic, they can use this to work out the user’s password. Windows 10 Version 1507 Security Baseline.zip. Routine file backups are essential for protecting yourself from losing important … This has not been popular with users and has led to the recommendation to deactivate the Windows update processes. Operational security hardening items MFA for Privileged accounts . Although it says its for Windows Server 2016, you can apply it to Windows Clients as well. For Microsoft Windows Desktop 2004 (CIS Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise Release 2004 Benchmark version 1.9.1) CIS has worked with the community since 2009 to publish a benchmark for Microsoft Windows Desktop There are other unintended consequences of being the “best” to be mindful of as well. The graphical interface (e.g. What we really need to drive is a cycle of continuous improvement. Get quick, easy access to all Canadian Centre for Cyber Security services and information. In 2009, Microsoft published the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET), which can be used as a Defense in Depth measure against the exploitation of vulnerabilities. I cannot do direct links on this form for some reason. The integrated Windows Defender solution can be used as anti-virus software. We’re at a significant disadvantage if we don’t learn to cooperate at least as well! Achieving early wins is a key aspect to driving business value from the investment in this deployment. A balance should be struck between security and usability. The security configuration framework is designed to help simplify security configuration while still allowing enough flexibility to allow you to balance security, productivity, and user experience. 904 KB: Windows 10 Version 1607 and Windows Server 2016 Security Baseline.zip. (ORCID 0000-0003-0772-9761), Block CIS Cloud Cortana Detect Exploit GitHub Google Hardening Logging Malware Microsoft Password Research Scan Storage Tool Twitter VulDB Windows Windows 10. Security configuration may be at odds with productivity or user experience; imagine if you worked for a software company and couldn’t test your own code because it wasn’t on your organizational safe programs list yet? CIS Controls Microsoft Windows 10 Cyber Hygiene Guide This guide provides detailed information on how to accomplish each of the CIS Sub-Controls within Implementation Group 1 (IG1). The maximum size of the event log should therefore be expanded in order to ensure that no entries can be lost by being overwritten. In Windows 10, the properties of Windows Update were altered. The checklist can be used for all Windows versions, but in Windows 10 Home the Group Policy Editor is not integrated and the adjustment must be done directly in the registry. Set up file backups. We worked with a select group of pilot customers, experts from Microsoft’s engineering team, and the Microsoft sales field to develop this guidance. Device Guard Enabled Check this if the system is running Device Guard. Our experts will get in contact with you! Questions, concerns, or insights on this story? Bootkit type of malware can infect the master boot record of the system. The “per-machine” checklist. ; BitLocker is an obvious one, enable it on all machines. We are releasing this draft version to gather additional feedback from organizations looking to organize their device security hardening program. In Microsoft Defender ATP, the secure score is the path to achieving this. You don’t want to go deliberately misleading your peers in the industry – in fact, one thing I’m deeply passionate about is improving cooperation among the people on the side of good. According to an analysis, by Will Dormann, this is not yet the case with the current version of Windows 10. Clearly, a key aspect for a security configuration framework is to help drive a smart set of priorities. An eight-digit password can be worked out in just a few hours. The hardening checklists are based on the comprehensive checklists produced by The Center for Internet Security (CIS), when possible.The Information Security Office has distilled the CIS lists down to the most critical steps for your systems, with a particular focus on configuration issues that are unique to the computing environment at The University of Texas at Austin. For this, but this is not active in the background, scanning your files and offering a basic of. 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