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

Summary

Once again, we've come to the conclusion of another chapter, and we covered a lot of cool topics. We started by looking at various ways to audit which services are running on your systems, and we saw some examples of what you probably don't want to see. We then saw how to use the password protection features of GRUB 2, and we saw the little quirks that we have to deal with when using those features. Next, we had a change of pace by looking at how to further lock down a system by properly setting up a system's BIOS/UEFI. Finally, we looked at why we need to begin preparations to set up a hardened system by obtaining and following the proper checklist.

Not only does this conclude another chapter, but it also concludes this book. However, this doesn't conclude your journey into the land of Mastering Linux Security and Hardening. Oh, no. As you continue...