CIS Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise Release 1909 Benchmark

18.9.61.6 (L1) Ensure 'Allow search and Cortana to use location' is set to 'Disabled' (Scored)

ProfileApplicability:

 Level 1 (L1) - Corporate/Enterprise Environment (general use)

Description:

This policy setting specifies whether search and Cortana can provide location aware search and Cortana results.

The recommended state for this setting is: Disabled .

Rationale:

In an enterprise managed environment, allowing Cortana and Search to have access to location data is unnecessary. Organizations likely do not want this information shared out.

Audit:

Navigate to the UI Path articulated in the Remediation section and confirm it is set as prescribed. This group policy setting is backed by the following registry location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search:AllowSearchToUseLocation

Remediation:

To establish the recommended configuration via GP, set the following UI path to Disabled :

Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Search\Allow search and Cortana to use location

Note: This Group Policy path may not exist by default. It is provided by the Group Policy template Search.admx/adml that is included with the Microsoft Windows 10 RTM (Release 1507) Administrative Templates (or newer).

Impact:

Search and Cortana will not have access to location information.

Default Value:

Enabled. (Search and Cortana can access location information.)

1057 | P a g e