Linux Security and Hardening, The Practical Security Guide

Linux Security and Hardening, The Practical Security Guide

by Jason Cannon, Linux Training Academy
Released October 2018
Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
ISBN: 9781789612820

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Video description

Keep yourself and your company out of the news by protecting your Linux systems from hackers, crackers, and attackers! This course will not only teach you the security concepts and guidelines that will keep your Linux servers safe, it will walk you through hardening measures step-by-step. By the end of this course, you will be able to tighten up the security on any Linux system. You'll learn the security weaknesses of the Linux operating system and will be given step-by-step instructions on how to protect those weaknesses. You'll even learn some security concepts that apply to information security as a whole while focusing on Linux-specific issues that require special consideration. What you learn in this course applies to any Linux environment or distribution including Ubuntu, Debian, Linux Mint, RedHat, CentOS, Fedora, OpenSUSE, Slackware, Kali Linux, and more.

What You Will Learn

  • How to protect your Linux systems against hackers
  • Ways to prevent attackers from breaking into your systems, even when they have physical access to your machine.
  • How to enforce strong password policies and control password as well as account aging policies on your Linux servers.
  • SSH Hardening practices.
  • Network security tactics.
  • Port scanning and network service detection
  • How the Linux firewall works and exactly how to configure it.
  • How to protect the superuser (root) account.
  • Ways to share accounts securely with an audit trail.
  • File system security and encryption.
  • Using and configuring sudo, and why you need to.
  • Advanced Linux permissions, including special modes, file attributes, and access control lists (ACLs).

Audience

This course targets anyone with a desire to learn how to secure and harden a computer running the Linux operating system. Linux system administrators looking to make the systems they support more secure and people thinking about a career as a Linux system administrator or engineer will benefit from this course. This course is not for people who have never used the Linux operating system before.

About The Author

Jason Cannon: Jason Cannon is a professional system administrator, consultant, and author. He started his career as a Unix and Linux System engineer in 1999. Since that time, he has utilized his Linux skills at companies such as Xerox, UPS, Hewlett-Packard, and Amazon.com. Additionally, he has acted as a technical consultant and independent contractor for small businesses and Fortune 500 companies.

Jason has professional experience with CentOS, RedHat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, and Ubuntu. He has used several Linux distributions on personal projects including Debian, Slackware, CrunchBang, and others. In addition to Linux, Jason has experience supporting proprietary Unix operating systems including AIX, HP-UX, and Solaris. He enjoys teaching others how to use and exploit the power of the Linux operating system.

Table of contents

  1. Chapter 1 : Course Overview and Downloads
    1. Course Overview
  2. Chapter 2 : General Security
    1. Section Overview
    2. Is Linux Secure?
    3. What Makes Linux Secure?
    4. Security Guidelines and Principles
    5. Section Summary
  3. Chapter 3 : Physical Security
    1. Section Overview
    2. Physical Security Concepts
    3. Single User Mode Security
    4. Single User Mode and Blank Passwords
    5. Securing the Boot Loader
    6. Disk Encryption
    7. Encrypting a New Device, Part I
    8. Encrypting a New Device, Part II
    9. Encrypting an Existing Device
    10. Disabling Control Alt Delete
    11. Section Summary
  4. Chapter 4 : Account Security
    1. Section Overview
    2. Intro to PAM
    3. PAM Configuration Example
    4. Password Security
    5. Account Security Demo #1 (UID 0)
    6. Controlling Account Access
    7. Security by Account Type
    8. Account Security Demo #2
    9. Account Security Demo #3 (Sudo)
  5. Chapter 5 : Network Security
    1. Section Overview
    2. Network Security, Part I
    3. Network Security, Part II
    4. Securing SSHD, Part I
    5. Securing SSHD, Part II
    6. Linux Firewall Fundamentals
    7. Configuring the Firewall from the Command Line
    8. Firewall Rule Specifications
    9. Example Firewall Rules
    10. Linux Firewall Demonstration
    11. TCP Wrappers, Part I
    12. TCP Wrappers, Part II
  6. Chapter 6 : File System Security
    1. Section Overview
    2. File and Directory Permissions, Intro
    3. File and Directory Permissions, Part I
    4. File and Directory Permissions, Part II
    5. Special Modes, Part I
    6. Special Modes, Part II
    7. File Attributes
    8. File Attributes Demo
    9. ACLs
    10. ACLs Demo
    11. Rootkits
    12. Rootkit Hunter Demonstration
  7. Chapter 7 : Additional Security Resources
    1. Additional Security Resources

Product information

  • Title: Linux Security and Hardening, The Practical Security Guide
  • Author(s): Jason Cannon, Linux Training Academy
  • Release date: October 2018
  • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
  • ISBN: 9781789612820