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 a true statement?

A) Secure Shell is completely secure in its default configuration.
B) It's safe to allow the root user to use Secure Shell to log in across the internet.
C) Secure Shell is insecure in its default configuration.
D) The most secure way to use Secure Shell is to log in with a username and password.

  1. Which three of the following things would you do to conform with the best security practices for Secure Shell?

A) Make sure that all users are using strong passwords to log in via Secure Shell.
B) Have all users create a public/private key pair, and transfer their public keys to the server to which they want to log in.
C) Disable the ability to log in via username/password.
D) Ensure that the root user is using a strong password.
E) Disable the root user's ability to log in.

  1. Which one of the following lines in the sshd_config...