Book Image

Mastering Linux Security and Hardening - Third Edition

By : Donald A. Tevault
3.7 (7)
Book Image

Mastering Linux Security and Hardening - Third Edition

3.7 (7)
By: Donald A. Tevault

Overview of this book

The third edition of Mastering Linux Security and Hardening is an updated, comprehensive introduction to implementing the latest Linux security measures, using the latest versions of Ubuntu and AlmaLinux. In this new edition, you will learn how to set up a practice lab, create user accounts with appropriate privilege levels, protect sensitive data with permissions settings and encryption, and configure a firewall with the newest firewall technologies. You’ll also explore how to use sudo to set up administrative accounts with only the privileges required to do a specific job, and you’ll get a peek at the new sudo features that have been added over the past couple of years. You’ll also see updated information on how to set up a local certificate authority for both Ubuntu and AlmaLinux, as well as how to automate system auditing. Other important skills that you’ll learn include how to automatically harden systems with OpenSCAP, audit systems with auditd, harden the Linux kernel configuration, protect your systems from malware, and perform vulnerability scans of your systems. As a bonus, you’ll see how to use Security Onion to set up an Intrusion Detection System. By the end of this new edition, you will confidently be able to set up a Linux server that will be secure and harder for malicious actors to compromise.
Table of Contents (22 chapters)
1
Section 1: Setting up a Secure Linux System
9
Section 2: Mastering File and Directory Access Control (DAC)
12
Section 3: Advanced System Hardening Techniques
20
Other Books You May Enjoy
21
Index

Maintaining Logs in Large Enterprises

Any large enterprise will have a diverse mix of network end-points. In addition to Linux servers, there will also be various brands of switches and routers, firewalls, Windows servers, Windows or Linux workstations, network-connected printers, and various forms of network-attached storage devices. Most of these devices generate system logs, and administrators need a convenient way to review logs for the gear that they administer. Sadly, using only the logging systems that come with these devices is anything but convenient for a large enterprise.

Collecting log files from such a diverse collection of end-points isn’t the real challenge. The real challenge is twofold:

  • To transform the log files from the various end-points, which all have their own unique log file formats, into a common format that can be read and parsed by a centralized logging program.
  • To parse and display log data in a way that allows administrators...