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

Questions

  1. In which file would you configure complex password criteria?
  2. When using the useradd utility on a RHEL 7-type machine, what should the UMASK setting be in the /etc/login.defs file?
  3. When using the adduser utility on an Ubuntu 20.04 machine, how would you configure the /etc/adduser.conf file so that new users’ home directories will prevent other users from accessing them?
  4. What change did the National Institute for Standards and Technology recently make to its recommended password policy?
  5. Which three of the following utilities can you use to set user account expiry data?
    1. Useradd
    2. Adduser
    3. Usermod
    4. chage
  6. Why might you want to lock out the user account of a former employee, rather than delete it?
    1. It’s easier to lock an account than it is to delete it.
    2. It takes too long to delete an account.
    3. It’s not possible to delete a user account.
    4. ...