Security Configuration & Control Reviews
Default installations prioritize convenience over security. We inspect your operating systems, databases, middleware, and endpoints against rigorous hardening benchmarks.
What We Examine
A significant proportion of enterprise security breaches exploit insecure default settings, unnecessary enabled services, weak authentication parameters, or excessive file/database permissions rather than exotic zero-day exploits.
Elegant Infosec conducts granular Security Configuration & Control Reviews across your critical technology stack. Benchmarking against CIS (Center for Internet Security) standards, vendor security guides, and defense-in-depth principles, we evaluate whether your servers, databases, endpoints, and core platforms are hardened appropriately for production operations.
Why Organizations Engage Us
Configuration drift across environments
Manual server provisioning and hotfixes cause production hosts to drift away from intended golden-image security baselines over time.
Insecure default database and OS settings
Out-of-the-box installations often leave legacy protocols, weak cipher suites, default accounts, or overly broad local privileges active.
Balancing hardening with application compatibility
Blindly applying strict benchmark scripts without engineering review can break legacy applications or operational monitoring tools.
Audit and compliance baseline evidence
Frameworks like ISO/IEC 27001 (A.8.9 Configuration Management), PCI DSS (Requirement 2), and CIS Controls require documented, verified configuration standards.
Technical Boundaries & Control Layers
Server & Endpoint Operating Systems
- Linux distributions (RHEL, Ubuntu, Debian, Amazon Linux) kernel, PAM, SSH, and filesystem permissions
- Windows Server & Workstation baselines, Group Policy Objects (GPO), LAPS, and credential guard
- macOS corporate fleet security profiles, FileVault encryption, and MDM policy enforcement
Database Management Systems
- Relational databases (PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle) authentication and privilege separation
- NoSQL data stores (MongoDB, Redis, Elasticsearch) network binding, TLS, and RBAC controls
- Database audit logging, encryption at rest, and administrative account hygiene
Middleware, Web Servers & Containers
- Nginx, Apache, and IIS web server hardening, TLS configurations, and module minimization
- Docker daemon configuration, container image privileges, and Kubernetes node/pod security policies
Enterprise Identity & Collaboration Platforms
- Microsoft 365 / Entra ID and Google Workspace tenant security configuration reviews
- Source-code repository (GitHub / GitLab) organization security, branch protection, and secret scanning settings
Examination Protocol
Select representative hosts and target benchmarks
Identify golden images, critical production servers, databases, and SaaS tenants, and agree on the applicable CIS Benchmark level (Level 1 or Level 2).
Gather configuration state via read-only scripts or exports
Use transparent, auditable read-only collection scripts or configuration exports to capture system parameters without installing persistent agents.
Evaluate deviations and operational impact
Analyze each failed control to distinguish high-risk exposures from intentional, documented operational exceptions.
Deliver hardening specifications and verification
Provide exact configuration parameters, GPO/Ansible/sysctl recommendations, and verify hardened baselines.
Evidence & Reporting Outputs
Executive Configuration Assurance Summary
High-level overview of baseline compliance percentages, critical misconfiguration themes, and fleet-wide hardening priorities.
Platform-by-Platform Hardening Audit Report
Detailed control-by-control evaluation showing current state, expected benchmark value, risk severity, and exact remediation parameter.
Enterprise Hardening Standard Templates
Practical baseline checklists and configuration standards tailored for your IT and DevOps teams to prevent future configuration drift.
Referenced Security Frameworks
Consensus-based hardening standards for OS, database, cloud, container, and productivity platforms.
Supplementary technical security configuration guides where high-assurance hardening is required.
Satisfies configuration management and secure system baseline verification requirements.
Common Procurement Questions
Do we need to install agents on our production servers for a configuration review?
No. We provide transparent, read-only shell or PowerShell audit scripts that your administrators can inspect and run themselves to generate a configuration output file, or we can review exported configurations directly.
What is the difference between CIS Level 1 and Level 2 benchmarks?
CIS Level 1 profiles provide practical security hardening measures that confer clear security benefit without negatively impacting standard business functionality. Level 2 profiles are designed for high-security environments where defense-in-depth takes precedence and require careful compatibility testing.
Can you review our Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace tenant configuration?
Yes. Cloud productivity and identity tenants are critical control planes; we evaluate conditional access, mail security (SPF/DKIM/DMARC, anti-phishing), external sharing, and admin role assignments against CIS Microsoft 365 / Google Workspace benchmarks.
Start your security assessment.
WHAT ARE YOU MISSING?
Tell us what you need assessed. We’ll help define the scope and next steps.