diff --git a/meta-security/meta-hardening/README b/meta-security/meta-hardening/README
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..37a0b7e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meta-security/meta-hardening/README
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+# This is an example for Security hardening an OE or Poky image
+
+
+Meta-hardening
+=============
+
+This layer provides examples for hardening OE/Yocto images.
+This layer does not provide 100% security protection.  This is only 
+a framework from which a user can build from and can possible contribute to.
+The goal here is to capture use cases and examples the community decided shares for
+everyones benefit.
+
+Building the meta-hardening layer
+-------------------------------
+In order to add hardening support to the poky/OE build this layer should be added
+to your projects bblayers.conf file.
+
+By default the hardening components are disabled.  This conforms to the
+Yocto Project compatible guideline that indicate that simply including a
+layer should not change the system behavior.
+
+In order to use the components in this layer to take affect the  'harden' keyword must
+set the DISTRO as in "DISTRO = harden".   This enables the "NO ROOT access" idea or framework.
+
+If one wants the a more complete example of a hardened image, one must also build the image:
+harden-image-minimal
+
+There are default example userid and passwards:
+These can be over written in your local.conf via:
+ROOT_DEFAULT_PASSWORD ?= "1SimplePw!"
+DEFAULT_ADMIN_ACCOUNT ?= "myadmin"
+
+example:
+local.conf
+DISTRO = "harden"
+
+The default user and password are: 
+User: "myadmin"
+Password: "1SimplePw!"
+
+bitbake {qemu machine} harden-image-minimal
+
+Dependencies
+============
+
+Branch: master
+
+This layer depends on:
+
+URI: git://git.yoctoproject.org/poky
+
+or this normal combo: 
+
+URI: git://git.openembedded.org/meta-openembedded/meta-oe
+
+URI: git://git.openembedded.org/bitbake
+
+plus:
+
+URI: git://git.openembedded.org/meta-openembedded
+layers: meta-oe
+
+
+Maintenance
+-----------
+
+Send pull requests, patches, comments or questions to yocto@yoctoproject.org
+
+When sending single patches, please using something like:
+'git send-email -1 --to yocto@yoctoproject.org --subject-prefix=meta-hardening][PATCH'
+
+These values can be set as defaults for this repository:
+
+$ git config sendemail.to yocto@yoctoproject.org
+$ git config format.subjectPrefix meta-hardening][PATCH
+
+Now you can just do 'git send-email origin/master' to send all local patches.
+
+Maintainers:  Armin Kuster <akuster808@gmail.com>
+
+License
+=======
+
+All metadata is MIT licensed unless otherwise stated. Source code included
+in tree for individual recipes is under the LICENSE stated in each recipe
+(.bb file) unless otherwise stated.
diff --git a/meta-security/meta-hardening/conf/distro/harden.conf b/meta-security/meta-hardening/conf/distro/harden.conf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..66db9b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meta-security/meta-hardening/conf/distro/harden.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+DISTRO = "harden"
+DISTRO_NAME = "Simple Security hardening example"
+DISTRO_VERSION = "1.0"
+
+DISTRO_FEATURES = " acl xattr pci ext2 pam ipv4 ipv6 ipsec largefile usbhost"
+
+VIRTUAL-RUNTIME_base-utils-syslog ?= "rsyslog"
+IMAGE_ROOTFS_EXTRA_SPACE = "524288"
+EXTRA_IMAGE_FEATURES_remove = "debug-tweaks"
+
+DISABLE_ROOT ?= "True"
diff --git a/meta-security/meta-hardening/conf/layer.conf b/meta-security/meta-hardening/conf/layer.conf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5896214
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meta-security/meta-hardening/conf/layer.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+# We have a conf and classes directory, add to BBPATH
+BBPATH .= ":${LAYERDIR}"
+
+# We have a recipes directory, add to BBFILES
+BBFILES += "${LAYERDIR}/recipes*/*/*.bb ${LAYERDIR}/recipes*/*/*.bbappend"
+
+BBFILE_COLLECTIONS += "harden-layer"
+BBFILE_PATTERN_harden-layer = "^${LAYERDIR}/"
+BBFILE_PRIORITY_harden-layer = "10"
+
+LAYERSERIES_COMPAT_harden-layer = "dunfell"
+
+LAYERDEPENDS_harden-layer = "core openembedded-layer"
diff --git a/meta-security/meta-hardening/recipes-connectivity/openssh/openssh_%.bbappend b/meta-security/meta-hardening/recipes-connectivity/openssh/openssh_%.bbappend
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..67be3f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meta-security/meta-hardening/recipes-connectivity/openssh/openssh_%.bbappend
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+do_install_append_harden () {
+	# to hardend
+	sed -i -e 's:#AllowTcpForwarding yes:AllowTcpForwarding no:' ${D}${sysconfdir}/ssh/sshd_config
+	sed -i -e 's:ClientAliveCountMax 4:ClientAliveCountMax 2:' ${D}${sysconfdir}/ssh/sshd_config
+	sed -i -e 's:#LogLevel INFO:LogLevel VERBOSE:' ${D}${sysconfdir}/ssh/sshd_config
+	sed -i -e 's:#MaxSessions.*:MaxSessions 2:' ${D}${sysconfdir}/ssh/sshd_config
+	sed -i -e 's:#TCPKeepAlive yes:TCPKeepAlive no:' ${D}${sysconfdir}/ssh/sshd_config
+	sed -i -e 's:#AllowAgentForwarding yes:AllowAgentForwarding no:' ${D}${sysconfdir}/ssh/sshd_config
+
+    if [ "${@bb.utils.contains('DISABLE_ROOT', 'True', 'yes', 'no', d)}" = "yes" ]; then
+        sed -i -e 's:#PermitRootLogin.*:PermitRootLogin prohibit-password:' ${D}${sysconfdir}/ssh/sshd_config
+    fi
+}
diff --git a/meta-security/meta-hardening/recipes-core/base-files/base-files_%.bbappend b/meta-security/meta-hardening/recipes-core/base-files/base-files_%.bbappend
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3956304
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meta-security/meta-hardening/recipes-core/base-files/base-files_%.bbappend
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+
+do_install_append_harden () {
+    sed -i 's/umask.*/umask 027/g' ${D}/${sysconfdir}/profile
+}
diff --git a/meta-security/meta-hardening/recipes-core/images/harden-image-minimal.bb b/meta-security/meta-hardening/recipes-core/images/harden-image-minimal.bb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..daed3fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meta-security/meta-hardening/recipes-core/images/harden-image-minimal.bb
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+SUMMARY = "A small image for an example hardening OE."
+
+IMAGE_INSTALL = "packagegroup-core-boot packagegroup-hardening"
+IMAGE_INSTALL_append = " os-release"
+
+IMAGE_FEATURES = ""
+IMAGE_LINGUAS = " "
+
+LICENSE = "MIT"
+
+IMAGE_ROOTFS_SIZE ?= "8192"
+
+inherit core-image extrausers
+
+ROOT_DEFAULT_PASSWORD ?= "1SimplePw!"
+DEFAULT_ADMIN_ACCOUNT ?= "myadmin"
+DEFAULT_ADMIN_GROUP ?= "wheel"
+DEFAULT_ADMIN_ACCOUNT_PASSWORD ?= "1SimplePw!"
+
+EXTRA_USERS_PARAMS = "${@bb.utils.contains('DISABLE_ROOT', 'True', "usermod -L root;", "usermod -P '${ROOT_DEFAULT_PASSWORD}' root;", d)}"
+
+EXTRA_USERS_PARAMS += "useradd  ${DEFAULT_ADMIN_ACCOUNT};" 
+EXTRA_USERS_PARAMS += "groupadd  ${DEFAULT_ADMIN_GROUP};" 
+EXTRA_USERS_PARAMS += "usermod -P '${DEFAULT_ADMIN_ACCOUNT_PASSWORD}' ${DEFAULT_ADMIN_ACCOUNT};" 
+EXTRA_USERS_PARAMS += "usermod -aG ${DEFAULT_ADMIN_GROUP}  ${DEFAULT_ADMIN_ACCOUNT};" 
diff --git a/meta-security/meta-hardening/recipes-core/initscripts/files/mountall.sh b/meta-security/meta-hardening/recipes-core/initscripts/files/mountall.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..e093f96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meta-security/meta-hardening/recipes-core/initscripts/files/mountall.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+### BEGIN INIT INFO
+# Provides:          mountall
+# Required-Start:    mountvirtfs
+# Required-Stop: 
+# Default-Start:     S
+# Default-Stop:
+# Short-Description: Mount all filesystems.
+# Description:
+### END INIT INFO
+
+. /etc/default/rcS
+
+#
+# Mount local filesystems in /etc/fstab. For some reason, people
+# might want to mount "proc" several times, and mount -v complains
+# about this. So we mount "proc" filesystems without -v.
+#
+test "$VERBOSE" != no && echo "Mounting local filesystems..."
+mkdir -p /home
+mkdir -p /var
+mount -at nonfs,nosmbfs,noncpfs 2>/dev/null
+
+#
+# We might have mounted something over /dev, see if /dev/initctl is there.
+#
+if test ! -p /dev/initctl
+then
+	rm -f /dev/initctl
+	mknod -m 600 /dev/initctl p
+fi
+kill -USR1 1
+
+#
+# Execute swapon command again, in case we want to swap to
+# a file on a now mounted filesystem.
+#
+[ -x /sbin/swapon ] && swapon -a
+
+: exit 0
+
diff --git a/meta-security/meta-hardening/recipes-core/initscripts/initscripts_1.0.bbappend b/meta-security/meta-hardening/recipes-core/initscripts/initscripts_1.0.bbappend
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..896b039
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meta-security/meta-hardening/recipes-core/initscripts/initscripts_1.0.bbappend
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+FILESEXTRAPATHS_prepend := "${THISDIR}/files:"
+
+SRC_URI_append_harden = " file://mountall.sh"
+
+do_install_append_harden() {
+    install -d ${D}${sysconfdir}/init.d
+    install -m 0755 ${WORKDIR}/mountall.sh ${D}${sysconfdir}/init.d
+}
diff --git a/meta-security/meta-hardening/recipes-core/packagegroups/packagegroup-hardening.bb b/meta-security/meta-hardening/recipes-core/packagegroups/packagegroup-hardening.bb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1dcd5fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meta-security/meta-hardening/recipes-core/packagegroups/packagegroup-hardening.bb
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+#
+# 
+#
+
+SUMMARY = "Hardening example group"
+
+inherit packagegroup
+
+PROVIDES = "${PACKAGES}"
+PACKAGES = "${PN}  \
+    packagegroup-${PN} \
+"
+
+RDEPENDS_${PN} = "\
+    init-ifupdown \
+    ${VIRTUAL-RUNTIME_base-utils-syslog} \
+    sudo \
+    ${@bb.utils.contains("DISTRO_FEATURES", "pam", "pam-plugin-wheel", "",d)} \
+"
diff --git a/meta-security/meta-hardening/recipes-extended/shadow/shadow_%.bbappend b/meta-security/meta-hardening/recipes-extended/shadow/shadow_%.bbappend
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3f363f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meta-security/meta-hardening/recipes-extended/shadow/shadow_%.bbappend
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+do_install_append_harden () {
+	# to hardend
+	sed -i -e 's:UMASK.*:UMASK 027:' ${D}${sysconfdir}/login.defs
+	sed -i -e 's:PASS_MAX_DAYS.*:PASS_MAX_DAYS 365:' ${D}${sysconfdir}/login.defs
+	sed -i -e 's:PASS_MIN_DAYS.*:PASS_MIN_DAYS 1:' ${D}${sysconfdir}/login.defs
+	sed -i -e 's:#PASS_MIN_LEN.*:PASS_MIN_LEN 11:' ${D}${sysconfdir}/login.defs
+	sed -i -e 's:PASS_WARN_AGE.*:PASS_WARN_AGE 14:' ${D}${sysconfdir}/login.defs
+	sed -i -e 's:LOGIN_RETRIES.*:LOGIN_RETRIES 3:' ${D}${sysconfdir}/login.defs
+	sed -i -e 's:LOGIN_TIMEOUT.*:LOGIN_TIMEOUT 30:' ${D}${sysconfdir}/login.defs
+}
diff --git a/meta-security/meta-hardening/recipes-extended/sudo/sudo_%.bbappend b/meta-security/meta-hardening/recipes-extended/sudo/sudo_%.bbappend
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a31c081
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meta-security/meta-hardening/recipes-extended/sudo/sudo_%.bbappend
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+
+PACKAGECONFIG_append_harden = " pam-wheel"
+do_install_append_harden () {
+    if [ "${@bb.utils.contains('DISABLE_ROOT', 'True', 'yes', 'no', d)}" = "yes" ]; then
+        sed -i -e 's:root ALL=(ALL) ALL:#root ALL=(ALL) ALL:' ${D}${sysconfdir}/sudoers
+    fi
+}