Which action must be taken during the process of hardening machine images?

Question

Options

• ADetect vulnerabilities with the help of a vulnerability scanner tool.
• BInstall an antivirus program.
• CRemove unnecessary services, applications, and network protocols.
• DCreate a system image backup.

• A
  5% (2)
• C
  93% (38)
• D
  2% (1)

Explanation

Hardening a machine image means reducing its attack surface by stripping out everything that isn't needed - so removing unnecessary services, applications, and network protocols (C) is the defining action of the hardening process itself, not a supplementary step. Option A (vulnerability scanning) is a discovery activity that may precede or follow hardening, but is not part of building the hardened image. Option B (antivirus) is a compensating control added after deployment, not a hardening step during image creation. Option D (system image backup) is a resilience/recovery practice, entirely unrelated to reducing attack surface.

Memory tip: Think of hardening as "less is more" - the goal is removal and reduction, so the correct answer will always be the one that takes something away, not one that adds a tool or creates a copy.

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