In today's highly connected world, system security is paramount, and while Linux has long been regarded as a secure operating system, there is much that can be done to enhance its security. CIS Benchmarks provided one such standardized approach by bringing together a consensus on security best practices from across the technology industry. CIS Benchmarks, however, are extensive and, if applied by hand, would take many hours for an engineer to implement on a single system. Thus, automating their deployment is of vital importance.
In this chapter, you have learned about CIS Benchmarks, what they are for, and the benefits they bring. You then learned about the balance between security and application support, and how to make informed decisions when applying a server hardening policy. You also learned how to make use of shell scripts to apply some example security policies...