Hardening Microsoft Windows 10 Workstations

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Hardening Microsoft Windows 10, version 1709, Workstations
Password Policy
This research provided effective guidance on how to configure Microsoft
Windows 10 workstation and also highlighted password policy in order to
control and manage the privacy of data. According to password policy, the
utilization of weak passwords or simple characters in the passwords can
enable the hackers for entering into the main system and allow them to be
brute forces within few minutes (ASD, 2017). Moreover, having no highest
password age may allow an adversary for managing extended access to the
workstation once the password is compromised by the consumer. In order
to achieve a secure password policy Australian signals directorate provided
numbers of group policy settings which are highlighted below:
 Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\System\
Logon
 Computer Configuration\Policies\Windows Settings\Security Settings\
Account Policies\Password Policy
 Computer Configuration\Policies\Windows Settings\Security Settings\
Local Policies\Security Options
Therefore, it is stated that with the help of above policy settings the
consumers can develop a security password for the computing devices and
enhance the privacy of the sensitive data. According to ASD, delivering
consumers with a privileged account for the daily purpose may produce a
risk or issue which they will utilize this account for external web and
personal account access. In order to reduce threats and risks from the
system consumers which do not need privileged access must not be granted
privileged accounts while consumers which need such access should have a
separate process with various credentials (Kelley, et al., 2012).
It is very important to control and manage the security risks from the
systems for which the consumers should avoid utilization of unauthentic

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access and use effective passwords. From ASD report it is observed that for
controlling and managing persistence developers may replace the current
boot loader for Microsoft with a malicious version. In which the malicious
boot can execute at boot time and control unwanted signals from the
system.
It is very important for the consumers to enable network selection UI in
the computer configuration for ensuring credentials are entered in an
effective way and prevent data from the hackers. In the case of a group
policy setting, there are numerous recommended options provided which
may be used for improving the security of the sensitive data (Leonhard,
2018). In the case of credential, user interface the consumers should enable
password revel button that hides the entered passwords from the others
and protect computing systems. Moreover, enumerate administrator
accounts on evaluation should be disabled in the windows components
which provide only authentic access to the consumers.
The trusted path for credential entry should be enabled in the computer
configuration because of their ability to provide trusted paths to the
consumers along with the credential entry (Krause, 2019). In the context of
windows logon options, the users should disable software secure attention
sequence because it may lead to data breach and hacking-related issues if
the hackers access the passwords of the consumer’s systems. Moreover,
sign-in last interactive consumer automatically section should be disabled
as it can produce conflicts in the systems and consumers may lose the
privacy of their personal data.
In the security options, there are major two sections included for
example interactive logon and display username. In the case of interactive
logon, the consumers may disable CTRL+ALT+ DEL which can delete the
sensitive data from the system. Moreover, while accessing the computer
devices and personal accounts the consumers should enable display