Hardening means reducing a device's attack surface by removing anything unnecessary and securing what remains. Network devices ship configured for easy setup, not for security: default accounts, convenient but insecure services and every port ready to use. Hardening is one of the first jobs after deployment, and it should be captured in your golden configuration so every device gets the same protection and configuration monitoring can detect when it drifts. Industry benchmarks and vendor hardening guides provide checklists to follow.
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