What is the purpose of DISA STIGs and how are they used?

• A. Provide prescriptive security baselines to harden DoD systems; used by administrators to configure systems to approved security settings.
• B. Provide general system efficiency guidelines.
• C. Describe incident response workflows.
• D. List hardware procurement standards.

Answer: (A)

DISA STIGs provide prescriptive security baselines that tell you exactly how to configure DoD systems to be secure. They specify concrete settings, values, and controls for operating systems, applications, and devices so configurations are consistent and auditable across the environment. Administrators use these guides to implement approved security configurations, starting from a hardened state and maintaining compliance as systems are updated. STIGs are kept current to address new threats and policy changes, and they are often paired with automated scanners that verify each system matches the approved settings. They aren’t about improving performance, describing incident response workflows, or dictating hardware procurement; their purpose is to standardize and enforce secure configurations.