Book Image

Practical Linux Security Cookbook

By : Michael A Lindner, Tajinder Kalsi
Book Image

Practical Linux Security Cookbook

By: Michael A Lindner, Tajinder Kalsi

Overview of this book

With the growing popularity of Linux, more and more administrators have started moving to the system to create networks or servers for any task. This also makes Linux the first choice for any attacker now. Due to the lack of information about security-related attacks, administrators now face issues in dealing with these attackers as quickly as possible. Learning about the different types of Linux security will help create a more secure Linux system. Whether you are new to Linux administration or experienced, this book will provide you with the skills to make systems more secure. With lots of step-by-step recipes, the book starts by introducing you to various threats to Linux systems. You then get to walk through customizing the Linux kernel and securing local files. Next you will move on to manage user authentication locally and remotely and also mitigate network attacks. Finally, you will learn to patch bash vulnerability and monitor system logs for security. With several screenshots in each example, the book will supply a great learning experience and help you create more secure Linux systems.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
Practical Linux Security Cookbook
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Monitoring user activity using acct


Acct is an open source application which helps monitor user activity on a Linux system. It runs in the background and tracks all the activities of the users and also maintains a track of the resources being used.

Getting started

To use the commands of acct, we first need to install the package on our Linux system by using the following command:

apt-get install acct

In case the above method doesn't work properly, we can download the package manually by visiting the link http://packages.ubuntu.com/precise/admin/acct.

  1. After downloading the package, we need to extract it into a directory somewhere, such as on the desktop.

  2. Then, move it into the directory.

  3. Next, run the script to configure the package.

  4. Once it completes, next we run the command make:

  5. Then, the command make install:

  6. Once successfully done, it will install the package on your Linux system.

How to do it?

The acct package has different commands for monitoring process activities:

  1. Based on a particular user...