KHIKA Standard Hardening Policies

KHIKA Server Hardening for Windows Servers

The Policies and rules available in the default Server Hardening template provided by KHIKA for Windows Servers (2007 onwards) is as mentioned below:

Policy Name	Rule Name and Description	Desired Value
Account & Password Policy	Password Age Minimum - Number of days for which user must use password before it can be changed.	1 Day
	Password Age Maximum - Number of days after which password expires.	45 Days
	Password Length Minimum - The least number of characters that can make up a password for a user account.	8 Characters
	Password Complexity level - Denotes whether password complexity is enabled.	Enabled
	Password History count - The number of unique new passwords that have to be associated with a user account before an old password can be reused.	5 passwords
	Password lock out count - Number of failed logon attempts after which a user account MUST be locked out.	5 attempts
	Administrator Name - Denotes Administrator Account Name.	Administrator
	Password in clear text - Determines whether passwords are stored using reverse encryption .	Disabled
	Guest Account Enable/Disable - Denotes whether the Guest account is enabled or disabled.	Disabled
Audit Policy	Audit System Events - Audit when a user restarts or shuts down the computer or when an event occurs that affects either the system security or the security log.	Audit Success & Failure
	Audit Logon Events - Audit each instance of a user logging on to or logging off from a computer.	Audit Success & Failure
	Audit Object Access - Audit the event of a user accessing an object.	No Audit
	Audit Privilege Use - Audit each instance of a user exercising a user right.	Audit Success & Failure
	Audit Policy Change - Audit every incident of a change to user rights assignment policies, audit policies, or trust policies.	Audit Success & Failure
	Audit Account Manage - Audit each event of account management on a computer.	Audit Success & Failure
	Audit Process Tracking - Audit detailed tracking information for events such as program activation, process exit, handle duplication, and indirect object access.	No Audit
	Audit Directory Services Access - Audit each instance of user attempts to access an Active Directory object.	No Audit
	Audit Account Logon - Audit each time this computer validates the credentials of an account.	Audit Success & Failure
Event Log Policy	Maximum Application event log size.	16384 KB
	Maximum System event log size.	16384 KB
	Maximum Security event log size.	16384 KB
	Application event log overflow action.	overwriteolder, overwriteasneeded
	System event log overflow action.	overwriteolder, overwriteasneeded
	Security event log overflow action.	overwriteolder, overwriteasneeded
Security Policy	Digitally sign secure channel data (when possible).	Enabled
	Digitally encrypt secure channel data (when possible).	Enabled
	Everyone permissions to apply to anonymous users.	Disabled
	Restrict anonymous access to Named Pipes and Shares.	Enabled
	Names of any pipes than can be accessed anonymously.	Should be empty
	Names of any shares than can be accessed anonymously.	Should be empty
	Classic need to be the sharing and security model for local accounts.	Enabled
Additional Security Policy	Do not display last username	Enabled
	LDAP Server signing requirements	Required
	Network client: Digitally sign communications (if server agrees)	Enabled
	Minimum session security for NTLM SSP based (including secure RPC) clients	Require NTLMv2 Session Security & 128-bit encryption
	LAN manager authentication level	Send NTLMv2 response only. Refuse LM & NTLM
	Do not store LAN Manager hash value on next password change	Enabled
	LDAP client signing requirements	None
	Minimum session security for NTLM SSP based (including secure RPC) servers	Require NTLMv2 Session Security & 128-bit encryption
	Optional subsystems none	None
	Password protected screensaver with 10 minute timeout should be set on the Server	Enabled
	Do not allow anonymous enumeration of SAM accounts and shares	Enabled
	Do not allow storage of credentials or .NET passwords for network authentication	Enabled
Privilege Policy	Allow logon through RDP/Terminal Services	Remote Desktop Users, Administrators, Domain Admins
	Shut down the system	Administrator
	Deny access to this computer from the network	Anonymous Login
Device Policy	CDROM Status – whether CD ROM drive is enabled or disabled	Disabled
	USB Status – whether USB devices are enabled or disabled.	Disabled
Services Policy	Check whether the following services are enabled or disabled: Messenger, Wireless Configuration, Alerter, Telnet, FTP, SMTP, Run As, Print Spooler, Fax Service, Client Services for Netware, Clipbook, File Services for Macintosh, FTP, Publishing Service, Help and Support, HTTP SSL,IIS Admin Service, Indexing Service, License Logging Service, Microsoft POP3 Service, Print Server for Macintosh, Wireless Configuration, Windows Media Server, Application Layer Gateway Service, Application Management, Distributed File System, Smart Card, Task, Scheduler, Telephony, Help and Support, Computer Browser, Windows Audio, Windows Installer, COM+ Event System, Portable Media Serial Number, Remote Procedure, Call (RPC) Locator, COM+ System Application	Disabled
Interactive Logon Policy	Smart Card Removal behavior	None
	Prompt user to change password before expiration	14 days
	Do not require CTRL + ALT + DEL	None
	Number of previous logons to cache(in case domain controller is not available)	None
	Require domain controller authentication to unlock workstation	Enabled
	Do not allow storage of credentials or .NET passwords for network authentication	Enabled
Domain Settings Policy	Allow server operators to schedule tasks	Disabled
	Refuse machine account password changes	Disabled
	Disable machine account password changes	Disabled
	Digitally sign secure channel data (when possible)	Enabled
	Digitally encrypt secure channel data (when possible)	Enabled
	Digitally encrypt or sign secure channel data (always)	Enabled
	Require strong (windows 2000 or later) session key	Enabled
Network Settings Policy	Network server: Amount of idle time required before suspending session	15 min
	Network client: Send unencrypted password to third party SMB servers	Disabled
	Network server: disconnect clients when logon hours expire	Enabled
	Network server: Digitally sign communications (always)	Enabled
Network Security Settings Policy	Force logoff when logon hours expire	Enabled

KHIKA Server Hardening for Linux Servers

The Policies and rules available in the default Server Hardening template provided by KHIKA for RHEL 7 is as mentioned below:

Policy Name	Rule Name and Description	Desired Value
Network Policy	Ensure IP forwarding is disabled	Disabled
	Ensure IPv6 is disabled	Disabled
	Ensure DCCP is disabled	Disabled
	Ensure SCTP is disabled	Disabled
	Ensure RDS is disabled	Disabled
	Ensure TIPC is disabled	Disabled
Services Policy	Check the status of the following services: chargen-dgram, chargen-stream, daytime-dgram, daytime-stream, discard-dgram, echo-dgram, echo-stream, time-dgram,timestream, rexec, rsh, talk, telnet, tftp, avahi-daemon, cups, dhcpd, slapd, nfs, rpcbind, named, httpd, dovecot, smb, squid, snmpd, ypserv, rsyslog, crond, vsftpd, ntpd, rsync, rlogin.	Disabled Enabled (for services cron, ntp, rsyslog)
SSH Policy	Ensure permissions on /etc/ssh/sshd_config are configured	700 (rwx------)
	Ensure SSH Protocol is set to 2	2
	Ensure SSH LogLevel is set to INFO	INFO
	Ensure SSH X11 forwarding is disabled	Disabled
	Ensure SSH MaxAuthTries is set to 4 or less	4
	Ensure SSH IgnoreRhosts is enabled	Enabled
	Ensure only approved ciphers are used	aes256-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes128-ctr
	Ensure only approved MAC algorithms are used	hmac-sha1, umac-64@openssh.com, hmac-ripemd160, hmac-sha2-256, hmac-sha2-512, hmac-ripemd160@openssh.com
	Ensure SSH Idle Timeout Interval is configured	300 seconds
	Ensure SSH Idle Timeout Interval is configured	0
Service Client Policy	Ensure NIS Client is not installed	Not installed
	Ensure rsh Client is not installed	Not installed
	Ensure talk client is not installed	Not installed
	Ensure telnet client is not installed	Not installed
	Ensure LDAP client is not installed	Not installed
	Ensure X Window System is not installed	Not installed
	Ensure rsyslog is installed	Installed
	Ensure syslog-ng is not installed	Not installed
Password Policy	Minimum Length of password	8 characters
	User cannot use last 5 passwords	5 password
	Maximum no. of days password is valid	60 days
	Minimum no. of days password is valid	1 day
	Unsuccessful Attempts For Account Lock	5 attempts
	Account Lockout Time	15 min
	Ensure password creation requirements are configured	retry=3 difok=3 minlen=8
	Ensure lockout for failed password attempts is configured	retry=3 difok=3 minlen=8
	Ensure password reuse is limited	5 passwords
CRON Policy	Ensure permissions on /etc/crontab are configured	700 (rwx------)
	Ensure permissions on /etc/cron.hourly are configured	700 (rwx------)
	Ensure permissions on /etc/cron.daily are configured	700 (rwx------)
	Ensure permissions on /etc/cron.weekly are configured	700 (rwx------)
	Ensure permissions on /etc/cron.monthly are configured	700 (rwx------)
	Ensure permissions on /etc/cron.d are configured	700 (rwx------)

Every organization tends to have its own compliance policies and hence KHIKA’s hardening compliance templates are customizable to meet the needs of any organization and enable hardening compliance posture assessment on a regular basis. To know more about how to customize your hardening policy, please check out Customizing Hardening Policies

Please note that hardening policies customization is done as a service for clients who implement KHIKA on premise. If you are on KHIKA SaaS, please write to info@khika.com for policy customization so that someone from our sales team will get in touch with you.