Security hardening: reducing an attack surface

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Low-hanging fruit for boosting corporate cyber-protection.
 
The past several years have seen a number of positive developments in global cybersecurity, with organizations worldwide making significant investments to bolster their defenses against cyberthreats. More sophisticated solutions, more guidelines available, and a more collaborative cybersecurity environment have all contributed toward a digital landscape enhancement. Yet, against the backdrop of these encouraging developments, a disparity in cyber-resilience between small and large organizations has been widening.

According to a recent World Economic Forum report, larger organizations are showing steady progress in improving their cyber-defenses, but their smaller counterparts are struggling to keep up. While many larger enterprises are equipped with cutting-edge security solutions and dedicated personnel, SMBs often lack the necessary resources, resulting in a yawning gap in their cyber-resilience. Given the context, small businesses have to use every opportunity to mitigate potential cybersecurity risks without extra resources, and that’s where security hardening can turn the tide and help avert potential threats by basically configuring organizations’ systems and networks in the right way.

So what is security hardening? Security hardening is shorthand for a range of techniques and procedures that help protect digital infrastructure by reducing an attack surface — essentially turning the security of existing systems up to the maximum without necessarily resorting to extra protection solutions. In this article, we explore some of the must-have strategies that can help organizations — especially those with limited or no dedicated cybersecurity resources — to reduce exposure to potential attacks.

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