OSRichtlinien

OSRichtlinien is a German term used in IT governance to denote guidelines for operating systems. It describes the set of policies, standards and procedures that govern installation, configuration, operation and security of operating systems within an organization or sector. Because there is no single universal OSRichtlinien, individual organizations typically publish their own documents, sometimes aligning them with established frameworks such as IT-Grundschutz from the German Federal Office for Information Security, ISO/IEC 27001, or CIS Benchmarks.

The content commonly addressed includes baseline configurations for Windows, Linux, and macOS; procedures for system hardening; patch management and vulnerability remediation; access control, user rights, and privilege management; auditing, logging, and monitoring; backup and recovery; software deployment, change management, and end-user device management; incident response and disaster recovery.

Development and governance involve IT security teams drafting the guidelines, management approval, versioning and periodic reviews. They are implemented using policy management processes and enforced through technical controls such as group policies, configuration management tools, and security platforms. Compliance is checked with internal audits and automated checks.

Benefits include improved security hygiene, risk reduction, and operational consistency. Challenges may include keeping baselines up to date with new OS versions, balancing security with usability, and resourcing for ongoing maintenance.

Related topics: IT-Grundschutz, CIS Benchmarks, ISO 27001, policy and configuration management.