Forum Discussion
Hardening Windows 10 on an IT Pro's laptop
- AnonymousApr 13, 2018
a clean install of Windows 10 is pretty good, that said, I do have the following advice:
- It is important to properly configure User Account Control on all machines; out of the box it is very insecure meaning anything can bypass it to grab admin privileges.
- It is important to make sure that Secure Boot is enabled on all machines.
- BitLocker is an obvious one, enable it on all machines.
- You may want to use Windows Defender Firewall to block all inbound connections on the private and public profiles, its very effective for protecting devices in public places and usually has no negative impact but should be assessed per requirements.
- You should deploy the uBlock Origin browser extension to all browsers, it blocks a significant amount of malware and greatly reduces the bandwidth used by your org; for the record, Chrome and Edge are much more secure than other browsers.
- Also remember to properly patch, if Windows, Defender, or Browser are out of date then you WILL be targeted.
Following the above will significantly benefit you and your users and can be done by anybody without any extra cost; I hope that's useful for you
Edit: oh, and if you're ever able to: I recommend you look into Windows 10 S (soon to be called Windows Pro in S Mode)
yes, it gets a lot of stick for restricting you to Edge and Store apps but that thing is rock solid; even if you never ever use it, it's the best example of Device Guard Code Integrity in action and how powerful it can be when properly configured
Edit: from 1803 Hypervisor enforced Code Integrity (HVCI) will be enabled by default via clean install, you can enable it on previous versions by following these instructions: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/security/threat-protection/enable-virtualization-based-protection-of-code-integrity
HVCI is a feature that helps defend against kernel level malware; I initially didn't mention it because I'm not sure what the real world benefits are and I'm aware that it can cause instability and performance problems, however since Microsoft seems to be pushing for its implementation I felt it was worth adding. (I imagine they may also do the same for DMA Protection in the future)
HotCakeX So glad my original question/post is hanging around 😃. I have a different AV so can I configure the changes you mention in addition to what I have or do I need to have Defender as my only AV?
- Daniel WesterdaleJun 01, 2020Iron Contributor
Ha ha, I see my original question seem to have triggered a quite protracted or is that just tedious discussion
. Let's switch gears and go back to the original post as I've just ordered a new Dell laptop. So again, I want to harden this from a hardware and Win 10 perspective, making full use of the latest innovations and standards. I did a bit googling, however I think I would get lost without your guru level insight:
Windows Hello with, or without Bitlocker - it comes with TPM 2.0
Can I get my security config scored by something - see step below:
Which bits of the https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2019/04/11/introducing-the-security-configuration-framework-a-prioritized-guide-to-hardening-windows-10/
Options for antitheft and retrieval.
- AnonymousJun 02, 2020
Why not buy Windows Secured-core C instead of some random Dell ?
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsforbusiness/windows10-secured-core-computers
Much better start.
Anyway you should use Bitlocker with TPM.
- Daniel WesterdaleJun 02, 2020Iron Contributor
Deleted
You do have a point - interesting article that . I guess security is not the primary driver. The new 15 XPS offers a lot of horsepower, and decent battery life.
Yes , I think I will be configuring bitlocker with Windows Hello.