Guides, Checklists & Best Practices

Hardening Guides

These guides make recommendations on hardening computers that run Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1(SP1) in three distinct enterprise environments to achieve maximum security. "Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Security Guide" by Microsoft is considered acceptable by NIST (for non-Top Secret servers).

• Windows Server 2003 Security Guide

Threats and Countermeasures Guide

This guide provide countermeasures for security threats threats against Microsoft Windows operating systems.

• Threats and Countermeasures

Security Checklist Guides for Vendors

These NIST/DOD hardening guides are designed to serve as security checklists to assess IT products' security configurations.

• NIST Security Configuration Checklists Repository
• Windows 2003 Server Security Checklist (Addendum)
• Information Assurance Support Environment Security Checlists
• OS and Application Checklists & Scoring (NEW)

Guides from Universities:

These are some best practice examples and hardening guides for Windows, Mac OS and Linux from other US universities.

• University of California, Berkley--IT Security "Best Practices"
• University of Washington--Windows 2000 Server Security Checklist
• University Of Washington--IIS Security Checklist
• University of Colorado Health Sciences Center--Windows Server 2003 Hardening Checklist
• California Institute of Technology--Rebuilding and Hardening for Windows XP Professional
• University of California, Berkley--Hardening the Windows 2000 Professional Operating System
• University of California, Berkeley--Hardening Linux
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign-- OS X Security Checklist
• The University of Kansas--Hardening Guides for Windows, Mac OS and Linux

Miscellaneous Guides

Other relevant sources for security checklists.

• Security Tips for Server Configuration
• Berkeley Lab--Basics on how to Harden Windows Server 2003 Security
• Berkeley Lab--Hardening Guides for all OS
• SANS--Linux Hardening