Which practice ensures a device has had unnecessary applications, services or ports disabled or removed from the host?

Which practice ensures a device has had unnecessary applications, services or ports disabled or removed from the host?

• A. End of Life (EOL)
• B. Sideloading
• C. Device Hardening
• D. Application Wrapping

Answer: (C)

Reducing the device’s attack surface by removing unnecessary apps, services, and ports is device hardening. The idea is to minimize the ways an attacker could compromise the device by turning off features you don’t need, uninstalling software, and closing unused network ports. This makes the system simpler and less prone to misconfigurations, and it strengthens security because there are fewer components to patch, monitor, or exploit. For example, if a server doesn’t require FTP or remote management, those services should be disabled and the corresponding ports blocked; similarly, unused software should be removed to limit potential vulnerabilities. End of Life means the product is no longer supported with security updates, which increases risk but isn’t the act of actively hardening a device. Sideloading concerns installing apps from sources outside the official store, which relates to trust and supply chain, not specifically to removing host components. Application Wrapping focuses on enforcing security policies for apps rather than trimming the host itself.

Reducing the device’s attack surface by removing unnecessary apps, services, and ports is device hardening. The idea is to minimize the ways an attacker could compromise the device by turning off features you don’t need, uninstalling software, and closing unused network ports. This makes the system simpler and less prone to misconfigurations, and it strengthens security because there are fewer components to patch, monitor, or exploit. For example, if a server doesn’t require FTP or remote management, those services should be disabled and the corresponding ports blocked; similarly, unused software should be removed to limit potential vulnerabilities.

End of Life means the product is no longer supported with security updates, which increases risk but isn’t the act of actively hardening a device. Sideloading concerns installing apps from sources outside the official store, which relates to trust and supply chain, not specifically to removing host components. Application Wrapping focuses on enforcing security policies for apps rather than trimming the host itself.