Security Strategies in Linux Platforms and Applications, 3rd Edition

Using Mandatory Access Controls

Another means of protecting services on a Linux system is by implementing mandatory access controls. Mandatory access controls are a set of policies and permissions established at the system level. They’re called mandatory because no user can change the permissions. If access control can be modified by users, as is commonly the case with the standard Linux permissions and on Windows systems, it’s called discretionary access control. Two packages can provide mandatory access control on a Linux system: Security Enhanced Linux (SELinux) and AppArmor.

Security Enhanced Linux

SELinux was originally developed by the National Security Agency (NSA), but Red Hat has completed a lot of development work on it. SELinux provides ...