Which of the following describes the process of removing unnecessary accounts and services from an application to reduce risk exposure?

Error and exception handling focuses on how an application responds to unexpected conditions to prevent information leakage, not on removing unused components.

Application hardening involves stripping away default or unnecessary components - such as guest accounts, unused services, and default configurations - that could be exploited by attackers. By minimizing the attack surface in this way, the risk exposure of the application is significantly reduced. This is a foundational security principle aligned with the concept of least functionality.

Application patch management addresses keeping software updated with security fixes, not the removal of unnecessary accounts or services.

Cross-site script prevention is a specific defensive coding technique against XSS attacks, unrelated to removing accounts or services.