Book Image

Practical Linux Security Cookbook - Second Edition

By : Tajinder Kalsi
Book Image

Practical Linux Security Cookbook - Second Edition

By: Tajinder Kalsi

Overview of this book

Over the last few years, system security has gained a lot of momentum and software professionals are focusing heavily on it. Linux is often treated as a highly secure operating system. However, the reality is that Linux has its share of security ?aws, and these security ?aws allow attackers to get into your system and modify or even destroy your important data. But there’s no need to panic, since there are various mechanisms by which these ?aws can be removed, and this book will help you learn about different types of Linux security to create a more secure Linux system. With a step-by-step recipe approach, the book starts by introducing you to various threats to Linux systems. Then, this book will walk you through customizing the Linux kernel and securing local files. Next, you will move on to managing user authentication both locally and remotely and mitigating network attacks. Later, you will learn about application security and kernel vulnerabilities. You will also learn about patching Bash vulnerability, packet filtering, handling incidents, and monitoring system logs. Finally, you will learn about auditing using system services and performing vulnerability scanning on Linux. By the end of this book, you will be able to secure your Linux systems and create a robust environment.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
Contributors
Packt Upsell
Preface
Index

Web server – HTTPD


HTTPD refers to the Apache2 web server, and is commonly used on Linux systems. Web servers commonly use the HTTP Protocol to transfer web pages. Apart from HTTP, protocols such as HTTPS and FTP are also supported.

Getting ready

There are no specific requirements to configure Apache on a Linux system.

How to do it...

In this section, we will see how to install and configure an Apache web server on an Ubuntu system:

  1. As Apache is available in Ubuntu's default software repositories, we can install it easily by using the apt installer. To install Apache and all its required dependencies, we run the following command:
  1. During the installation process, Apache registers itself with Ubuntu's default firewall, UFW. This provides profiles that can be used to enable or disable access to Apache through the firewall. To list the profiles, type the following command:

We can see three profiles are available for Apache. Apache refers to port 80 only, and Apache Full refers to both port 80 and...