Question

Secure a Workstation

Securing a workstation is one of the most important tasks you will perform when setting up security for an organization or individual. A few simple tweaks to a computer’s security policy will greatly improve its resistance to attack.

Note: Some of the settings below may already be enabled by default.

On a computer running Windows 10 Pro, follow these steps to require that a user press Ctrl+Alt+Del to log on:

1. Press Win+R, and in the Search box, type netplwiz and press Enter. Write down the usernames displayed in the User Accounts dialog box.
2. Click the Advanced tab and under Secure sign-in, check Require users to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete. Why does this setting help increase the workstation’s security?
3. Apply the changes and restart the computer to confirm the change.

Follow these steps to secure the computer using a screen saver and sleep mode:

4. Open Settings, click Accounts, and click Sign-in options. Under Require sign-in, select When PC wakes up from sleep.
5. Return to the Settings Home window, click System, and click Power & sleep. Set the screen timeouts and sleep timeouts as desired.
6. Return to the Settings Home window, click Personalization, and click Lock screen. Scroll down and click Screen saver settings. Select a screen saver to activate the screen saver function.
7. Set a wait time. For optimal security, this should be a low number. Check On resume, display logon screen. Click OK and close all windows.

Follow these steps to require that all users have a password:

8. Press Win+R, and in the Search box, type gpedit.msc and then press Enter. The Local Group Policy Editor window opens.
9. Navigate to Computer Configuration, Windows Settings, Security Settings, Account Policies, Password Policy.
10. Change the Minimum password length policy to a value higher than zero. How many characters did you require?
11. Search for and list three additional policies that would provide security to a workstation. Choose the policies from the nested folders from either of the parent locations below:
    1. Computer Configuration, Windows Settings, Security Settings
    2. Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates
12. List why each of these three policies provide additional security

Please answer the questions.

Answer 1

Below are the questions present in the question, the answers to them should satisfy the requirement.

Q1.) Click the Advanced tab and under Secure sign-in, check Require users to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete. Why does this setting help increase the workstation’s security? This is the first question from the context.

Ans.: There are many programs which pose as a threat to the Windows security by posing as a mimic of fake sign-in. These program will make a user think that the mimic is the original sign-in screen. The user will enter the credentials in it, making it available to the hackers. This will compromise the security. In order to guarantee that the authentic Windows sign-in screen appears, the Ctrl + Alt + Delete combination is required as a measure of secure sign-in.

Q2.) Navigate to Computer Configuration, Windows Settings, Security Settings, Account Policies, Password Policy.
Change the Minimum password length policy to a value higher than zero. How many characters did you require?

Ans.: We require minimum 1 character to set up the password. It also depends on the value of the Relax minimum password length limits settings. If this is disabled, 0 to 14 is the limit. If enabled, 0 to 128 is the limit.

Q3.) Search for and list three additional policies that would provide security to a workstation. Choose the policies from the nested folders from either of the parent locations below:

    Computer Configuration, Windows Settings, Security Settings
    Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates

List why each of these three policies provide additional security.

Ans.:

1. Administrator account status policy: This policy if enabled, determines that whether the local administrator account is enable or disabled. This policy provides the additional security as the administrator handles the system and will check for the possible intrusion attempts.
2. User Account Control policy: Detect application installation and prompt for elevation.: This policy is enabled by default in the computers. This policy restricts the installation of any application by a prompt. When an application is being installed, this policy will spring in action and will give a prompt whether to install or not. This enhances the security as there are no applications which will be installed on the system without user's approval. This prevents many malicious applications being installed on system.
3. Account lockout threshold policy: This policy determines the number of failed logon attempts that will cause the user account to be locked out. In case of intruder attempting to login the system with gusses, this policy will alert the administrators when the attempt threshold is reached. This will also stop the intruder to guess and try anymore.