Hardening Without Headache: Practical Lessons from Gartner® Research

When it comes to reducing enterprise threat exposure, configuration hardening isn’t a new idea — but it’s finally getting the focused attention it deserves.

In their recent report, “How to Secure Enterprise Hosts Using Hardening Baselines” (Gartner ID: G00781432) ¹, Gartner® explains that “hardening baselines provide an effective and proactive way of securing host operating systems in a consistent and continuous manner.”

Of course, baseline hardening is not so much a checklist, as it is a continuous, outcome-driven discipline. As such, the report provides a detailed framework for selecting, testing, implementing, and operationalizing secure configurations across enterprise environments.

Below we've compiled our top takeaways from the report.

Misconfiguration: The Hidden Attack Surface

Gartner notes that “modern cyberattacks, including ransomware and zero-day exploits, actively target the default configuration settings and vulnerabilities that come with systems out of the box.”

Through hardening, operators can shrink this “soft middle” of the enterprise, applying proven configuration controls to limit exposure, reduce alert noise, and improve system resilience.

Still, drift is inevitable due to staff turnover, troubleshooting, updates, and ad hoc exceptions. And without monitoring and remediation, therefore, the benefits of baseline hardening degrade quickly.

Tools Don’t Fix Everything — But They Help

Gartner is clear that “once the implementation process is complete for any portion of your host population, the work is not over. The process of hardening systems involves continuous monitoring and maintenance.”  

It's an unending and intensive endeavor, which is why dedicated tooling can make a world of difference. Among the companies said to provide purpose-built baseline hardening is GYTPOL, which Gartner recognizes as a specialist vendor focused on server and endpoint hardening, configuration drift monitoring, compliance, and remediation.

While it’s rewarding for us to see our name in print, we believe the real value here is how this category of tooling — regardless of vendor — supports a growing security imperative: making the most of the controls you already have.

Hardening Is Not Just for Compliance

A compelling takeaway from the report, in our view at least, is that hardening baselines are being driven by more than just audits and obligations. Organizations are using them to:

• Improve threat resilience without adding more tools

• Drive down security incidents tied to misconfigurations

• Reduce operational friction by aligning controls with business needs

That might sound all that earth-shattering, but it does quietly reflect a very significant shift in market mentality. It reveals that businesses are beginning to understand that, when done right, baseline hardening is a way to enable — not hinder — the business.

That's a point we at GYTPOL have been making for a while now and we're very glad to see it gaining traction in the field.  

A Word of Caution (and Encouragement)

Gartner closes with some warnings. “The most important risks and pitfalls that you should be aware of when selecting and implementing baselines are 'attempting to implement all of the controls in a chosen baseline' and 'not testing configurations thoroughly'”.

There's no one-size-fits-all solution, which is why it's so important that you be both vigilant and discerning. Don’t do anything blindly. 

The good news? With the right process and support, baseline hardening can be practical, scalable, and sustainable. Whether you’re using commercial benchmarks like CIS or government standards like STIG, it’s possible to implement a program that doesn’t just check boxes, but meaningfully improves protection and performance.

If you're looking to close the gap between secure intentions and secure realities, please reach out. We’d be happy to share what we’ve learned helping organizations simplify hardening. Let's talk.

• Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

• GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

_____

1. Gartner, How to Secure Enterprise Hosts Using Hardening Baselines, 25 February 2025