There are dangers lurking within your IT ecosystem that can be exploited by attackers of all stripes. System hardening is the process of acknowledging that systems are not secure out of the box, and require configuration changes to establish solid cybersecurity controls that will enhance your security posture and mitigate risks.

Most often organizations stick to default settings of various appliances. It is important to realize that default settings only serve easy setup leaving your systems vulnerable to all forms of attacks. At GRM, our information systems and cybersecurity experts will work with you to create a map of your IT and OT assets that need to be reviewed for vulnerabilities. This includes and is not limited to different components such as network devices, applications, operating systems, underlying servers, and databases. We have system hardening checklists that review configuration settings of your appliances across different layers of the TCP/IP stack. We also recommend creating concentric walls of security around your critical assets in order to fortify them from attacks.

As systems are constantly being upgraded, the hardened security settings that were configured can come undone. This is known as configuration drift and needs to be accounted for. Our experts monitor for configuration drift in real-time so as to reduce the surface of vulnerability and keep your systems secure.

Different cybersecurity frameworks place emphasis on system hardening requirements, which makes it important to carry out system hardening in order to stay compliant with standards such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, ISO 27001, and others. Our experts will walk you through the regulatory landscape so that you stay compliant at all times.

We believe system hardening is a continuous process that enables organization to mitigate cyber risks, and in the event of an incident take the necessary steps to expedite the process of recovery. At GRM, we recommend periodic vulnerability assessments, pen testing, and configuration reviews as a part of hardening your system and building cyber resilience.