Operating System and Application Hardening Questions

Focuses on practical hardening practices for Windows and Linux hosts and for application deployments. Topics include disabling unnecessary services, enforcing strong authentication and multi factor authentication, applying least privilege principles for accounts and services, securing configuration files and permissions, host level firewall configuration, patch management practices, and secure configuration of common application platforms. Candidates should be able to explain the rationale for hardening choices, describe common configuration locations and controls conceptually, and discuss verification and testing strategies.