CIS Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise Release 1909 Benchmark

5.8 (L1) Ensure 'Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) (SharedAccess)' is set to 'Disabled' (Scored)

ProfileApplicability:

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

Description:

Provides network access translation, addressing, name resolution and/or intrusion prevention services for a home or small officenetwork.

The recommended state for this setting is: Disabled .

Rationale:

Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) is a feature that allows someone to "share" their Internet connection with other machines on the network - it was designed for home or small office environments where only one machine has Internet access - it effectively turns that machine into an Internet router. This feature causes the bridging of networks and likely bypassing other, more secure pathways. It should not be used on any enterprise-managed system.

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\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess:Start

Remediation:

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

Computer Configuration\Policies\Windows Settings\Security Settings\System Services\Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)

Impact:

Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) will not be available. Wireless connections using Miracast will also be prevented.

Note: This service is a prerequisite for the Windows Defender Application Guard (WDAG) feature in Windows 10, so an exception should be made to this requirement if intending to use WDAG.

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