Ubuntu Hacks

Chapter 7. Security

When you hear stories about how much more secure Linux is than other operating systems, it can be tempting to rest easy. However, the truth is that any given Linux system is more likely to be secure only when it’s in good hands. This chapter collects a number of hacks that will make you a better steward of your Ubuntu systems.

In this chapter, you’ll learn about how Ubuntu relies on sudo to keep root privileges at the minimum needed to keep the system running smoothly. You’ll also learn how to configure your system to download and install security updates, so you can take advantage of the Linux community’s famously quick responses to security flaws. But even with these practices under your belt, there’s more you can do.

You can protect your network with a firewall to make it even harder for intruders to gain access. And if that’s not enough, you can use industrial-grade encryption to protect sensitive information on your system (so if your system is stolen or otherwise compromised, the attackers won’t be able to use what they find—unless you used a lousy passphrase or wrote it down on a piece of paper). You’ll find hacks showing how to do all this and more in this chapter.

Limit Permissions with sudo

Leverage Ubuntu’s default sudo installation to allow fine-grained control over privileged access.

If you have used a number of different Linux distributions in the past, one surprising thing you’ll notice the first time you use Ubuntu is that it disables the root ...