A set of standardized system images with a pre-defined set of applications is used to build end-user
workstations. The security administrator has scanned every workstation to create a current inventory of all
applications that are installed on active workstations and is documenting which applications are out-of-date and
could be exploited. The security administrator is determining the:
application hardening effectiveness.
OS hardening effectiveness.
In this question, we have out-of-date applications that could be exploited. The out-of-date applications are
security vulnerabilities. The combination of all vulnerabilities that could be exploited (or attacked) is known as
the attack surface.
The attack surface of a software environment is the sum of the different points (the “attack vectors”) where an
unauthorized user (the “attacker”) can try to enter data to or extract data from an environment.
The basic strategies of attack surface reduction are to reduce the amount of code running, reduce entry points
available to untrusted users, and eliminate services requested by relatively few users. One approach to
improving information security is to reduce the attack surface of a system or software. By turning off
unnecessary functionality, there are fewer security risks. By having less code available to unauthorized actors,
there will tend to be fewer failures. Although attack surface reduction helps prevent security failures, it does not
mitigate the amount of damage an attacker could inflict once a vulnerability is found.