Book Image

Mastering Linux Security and Hardening - Second Edition

By : Donald A. Tevault
Book Image

Mastering Linux Security and Hardening - Second Edition

By: Donald A. Tevault

Overview of this book

From creating networks and servers to automating the entire working environment, Linux has been extremely popular with system administrators for the last couple of decades. However, security has always been a major concern. With limited resources available in the Linux security domain, this book will be an invaluable guide in helping you get your Linux systems properly secured. Complete with in-depth explanations of essential concepts, practical examples, and self-assessment questions, this book begins by helping you set up a practice lab environment and takes you through the core functionalities of securing Linux. You'll practice various Linux hardening techniques and advance to setting up a locked-down Linux server. As you progress, you will also learn how to create user accounts with appropriate privilege levels, protect sensitive data by setting permissions and encryption, and configure a firewall. The book will help you set up mandatory access control, system auditing, security profiles, and kernel hardening, and finally cover best practices and troubleshooting techniques to secure your Linux environment efficiently. By the end of this Linux security book, you will be able to confidently set up a Linux server that will be much harder for malicious actors to compromise.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
1
Section 1: Setting up a Secure Linux System
8
Section 2: Mastering File and Directory Access Control (DAC)
11
Section 3: Advanced System Hardening Techniques

Questions

  1. Which of the following is true about rootkits?

A. They only infect Windows operating systems.
B. The purpose of planting a rootkit is to gain root privileges to a system.
C. An intruder must have already gained root privileges in order to plant a rootkit.
D. A rootkit isn't very harmful.

  1. Which of the following methods would you use to keep maldet updated?

A. Manually create a cron job that runs every day.
B. Do nothing, because maldet automatically updates itself.
C. Once a day, run the normal update command for your operating system.
D. Run the maldet update utility from the command line.

  1. Which of the following is true about the auditd service?

A. On an Ubuntu system, you'll need to stop or restart it with the service command.
B. On a Red Hat-type system, you'll need to stop or restart it with the service command.
C. On an Ubuntu system, it comes...