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Linux Security Cookbook
As the title suggests, LSC is a series of different Linux security "recipes." I found the cookbook-style of presentation both good and bad. Some recipes were a breeze to follow (such as the gpg recipes). Other recipes I felt could have been ordered a little better. The ipchains/iptables recipes in Chapter 2 are terrific, but I had to wait until the 19th recipe in the chapter to find out how to make the ipchains/iptables recipes stick. Though it makes sense to have saving a firewall configuration near the end of the chapter, I would have put the information after the first few recipes.
The only chapter that I glossed over was Chapter, "4 Authentication Techniques and Infrastructures." Chapter 4 covers Linux-PAM, OpenSSL and Kerberos. The chapter begins with a recipe for creating a PAM-Aware Application. I started to type in the C code but stopped a few lines from the end, it just didn't make sense for me to have this knowledge at this time. The introduction at the beginning of Chapter 4 is very good, but on the whole it is one of those chapters I've slotted for future reference. OpenSSH is discussed at the beginning of Chapter 4 but covered in more detail (an entire chapter) in Chapter 6.
The chapters I found most useful were those on intrusion detection systems (Chapter 1) and GPG (Chapters 7 & 8). Actually, I found almost all of LSC useful except the previously noted Chapter 4. Some of the software covered in the recipes are programs I've never heard of before, John the Ripper for example. Other recipes cover those programs I know I should check out (like Snort) but have never taken the time to.
LSC is for the most part very easy to follow. The authors have been very careful to mention when software (snort for example) might or might not be included and how to find and install it. I got tripped up a little in the first chapter (which covers tripwire), because I tried downloading and compiling the tripwire source found at the tripwire web site. I obtained the source from a couple of recommended sites. In one instance tripwire failed to compile correctly, in another it compiled but kept segfaulting when I tried to initialize the database. It wasn't until after I emailed O'Reilly that I saw mention further in Chapter 1 that tripwire is included with Red Hat Linux. One of the authors, Daniel J. Barrett, also emailed me to tell me that it was on the third CD - doh! The upside of this little tale is that I got to know aide (another intrusion detection system) a little better after I installed it on my Debian-based notebook.
I happen to think that computer books are overpriced. I have bought a number of $50-$90 computer books that ended up being doorstops after about a month and useless after a couple of years. Because of this experience I am a bit more stingy when shelling out for a computer book. Though I hate reading online documentation (I wear glasses and cannot stare at text on the screen for a long time), I have forced myself to read a lot more online documentation over the past year. This is one instance where I would be willing to shell out the $61.95 Canadian for a book. The Linux Security Cookbook covers a wide range of potential security problems and it presents its solutions such that each takes only a few minutes to implement.
I've saved what is actually covered in LSC for the end of this review. My intention in this review has been mainly to present my experience with LSC so that other members who are also still desktop users, or have never really been concerned with Linux security issues can take away the fact that despite a few sticking points I found this book to be a great source for information on different Linux security issues. For those concerned with the meat of the book, here's how it breaks down:
1. System Snapshots with Tripwire
2. Firewalls with iptables and ipchains
3. Network Access Control (xinetd, inetd, preventing DOS attacks)
4. Authentication Techniques and Infrastructures (PAM, SSL, Kerberos)
5. Authorization Controls (su and sudo)
6. Protecting Outgoing Network Connections (OpenSSH)
7. Protecting Files (permissions, GPG)
8. Protecting Email (all popular mail user agents, SSL and SSH)
9. Testing and Monitoring (Jack the Ripper, Cracklib, Snort, tcpdump, syslog)
You really need to have a good look at the table of contents to get an idea of all this book covers. I have written about it from a desktop-user standpoint, but there are so many recipes that I couldn't cover everything. There are many great code snippets that more advanced users would find useful.
If you don't have an intrusion detection system, need to grant some of your users limited root privileges, have been using the default firewall rules (or don't have a clue about iptables/ipchains), haven't checked your system for root kits or insecure protocols, then the Linux Security Cookbook should be at the top of your reading list.
You can purchase the Linux Security Cookbook from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
if you really wanna learn about securing linux, looking at the bastille script for securing linux is a good idea. you can go through the scrit and see what checks are being performed and things like that.
Consensus is good, but informed dictatorship is better
Sure you can learn a few tricks about current versions of software, but that's no substitute for staying up to date and UNDERSTANDING the software you run, in addition to watching security related mailing lists and newsgroups.
System administration isn't easy, that's why they make big dollars.
God Fucking Damnit
Check out Hacking Linux Exposed. Its well worth the read and makes an excellent reference.
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
All you need to do is disable telnet in inetd, right?
If they can't log in, you're fine.... Matthew Broderick would have never been asked to "play a Game" if they'd just locked down telnet.
.sig
Expert Recipes to Bolster Security
O'Reilly Releases "Linux Security Cookbook"
Sebastopol, CA--Recipes for security? The mere suggestion would raise a
few skeptical eyebrows among security experts. For computer security is
not a simple matter; it is, rather, an ongoing process, a relentless
contest between system administrators and intruders. A good
administrator needs to stay one step ahead of any adversaries, which
often involves a continuing process of education. But if you're well
grounded in the basics of security, you won't necessarily want a
complete treatise on the subject each time you pick up a book.
Sometimes you'll want to get straight to the point. That's exactly what
the new "Linux Security Cookbook" by Daniel J. Barrett, Richard E.
Silverman, and Robert G. Byrnes (O'Reilly, US $39.95) will help readers
do. Rather than provide a total security solution for Linux computers,
the authors present a series of easy-to-follow recipes--short, focused
pieces of code that administrators can use to improve security and
perform common tasks securely.
The "Linux Security Cookbook" is a repository of useful and important
recipes to be used within a well thought-out security policy. "Security
tools often have numerous options, configuration parameters, and so
forth, requiring the reader to dig through documentation," notes
coauthor Barrett. "The cookbook format provides a shortcut, presenting
the precise syntax needed for common, important security tasks."
"The 'Linux Security Cookbook' is accessible, without being simplistic,
which would be especially dangerous for security," adds Byrnes. "The
effectiveness of a security solution is only as good as the weakest
link.
"There's a vast literature dedicated to computer security, but that can
be daunting for anyone who is trying to find a way to get started,"
Byrnes adds. "There are also a lot of products that purport to offer
'security in a box,' but those never work because you can't just set up
a firewall or intrusion detection system and think that your security
problems are over. We offer specific recipes that are useful as both
standard operating procedure as well a learning tools, and we tell
people how to learn more."
The "Linux Security Cookbook" includes real solutions to a wide range
of targeted problems, such as sending encrypted email within Emacs,
restricting access to network services at particular times of day,
firewalling a web server, preventing IP spoofing, setting up key-based
SSH authentication, and much more. With more than 150 ready-to-use
scripts and configuration files, this unique book helps administrators
secure their systems without having to look up specific syntax.
The book begins with recipes devised to establish a secure system, then
moves on to secure day-to-day practices, and concludes with techniques
to help a system stay secure.
Some of the recipes in the "Linux Security Cookbook" are:
-Controlling access to your system at various levels, from your
firewall down to individual services, using iptables, ipchains, xinetd,
inetd, and more
-Monitoring your network with ethereal, dsniff, netstat, and other
tools
-Protecting network connections with SSH and SSL
-Detecting intrusions with tripwire, snort, tcpdump, logwatch, and more
-Securing authentication with cryptographic keys, Kerberos, and PAM,
and authorizing root privileges with sudo
-Encrypting files and email messages with GnuPG
-Probing your own security with password crackers, nmap, and handy
scripts
This cookbook's proven techniques are derived from hard-won experience.
Whether readers are responsible for security on a home Linux system or
for a large corporation, or somewhere in between, they'll find
valuable, to-the-point, practical recipes for dealing with everyday
security issues.
Praise for the "Linux Security Cookbook":
"An outsta
LSC is okay as security books go, but there are other options of course. My favorite security manual (though distro-specific) has been the Debian security manual as it is both comprehensive, informative and relatively easy to follow; the author of that should consider writing a more general book. The various Maximum ______ Security by Anonymous are pretty good too. The O'Reilly yellow series is great. However, nothing beats those plus reading RFCs, subscribing to security lists, chatting on IRC with security folks (of any hat color), reading usenet, and analyzing packet dumps and Snort rulesets yourself.
-- "You can lead a yak to water, but you can't teach an old dog to make a silk purse out of a pig in a poke" - Opus
You were right in taking the material with a pinch of salt.
LSC is for the most part very easy to follow.
In other words, it was a piece of cake.
Because of this experience I am a bit more stingy when shelling out for a computer book. This is one instance where I would be willing to shell out the $61.95 Canadian for a book.
You obviously knew which side your bread was buttered on.
The Linux Security Cookbook covers a wide range of potential security problems and it presents its solutions such that each takes only a few minutes to implement.I found this book to be a great source for information on different Linux security issues.
So all in all, you cut the cake and ate it too.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
I'd think before you even start messing with all the other things you say they do, the most fundamental step in securing your linux box is to type "netstat -anp|grep LISTEN", and be able to account for every line you see. Know what process is listening to what ports on what interfaces, and why, and ask yourself whether the ones which seem to be facing the broader internet should be. Disable various services from your startup scripts and/or modify config files as neccesary until it you get it down to where it should be. This is the most basic of security measures against network-based attacks, and one often not even looked at by people who try many other more complicated methods of securing the system.
11*43+456^2
Is this book a good start for a newbie???
If not, any suggestions?
You can subscribe at here.
As one of the flock of Linux desktop users I have always taken it for granted that Linux is inherently more secure than Microsoft Windows. The truth is, I've never really paid much attention to Linux security
Linux is more secure than Windows in many ways, but no operating system is inherently secure, especially if you don't pay much attention to security.
Picture this: you're on a private subnet, behind a firewall that allows only outbound connections, and NAT to boot. You run no services, so there's no way for a cracker to reach you. Right?
BZZT!!! Unbeknownst to you, someone found a hole in your IRC client. When you went online, they 0wned your box and quickly installed a rootkit that "phones home" when your router's dynamic IP address decides to change. Your machine now serves warez and kiddie porn, but you didn't know that. Of course, the FBI doesn't believe you, and sends you to federal "pound me in the ass" prison.
Sound far-fetched?
Every single one of those things has happened.
Using Linux just makes it a little harder for the crackers. Not impossible. And it can't make it impossible, because even if Linux itself were perfect, a single remote root exploit in any piece of network client software is all it takes.
If you own or use a computer that is at least sometimes connected to the Internet, or to a local network, security is your job.
Nonaggression works!
If you want to do it right, you want to learn about how to secure your machine yourself. That means not being scared by coniguration files, and knowing how to use netstat on the command line to find the servers you're running, knowing what inetd or xinetd do, etc. bastille won't teach you that.
(I'm not dissing Bastille - it does exactly what it is supposed to do, but it's not a teacher, it's a tool.)
The only linux security books out there that are worth their salt are hacking linux exposed, 2nd edition, followed by the Linux Firewalls, 2nd edition book. The former doesn't have enough space to cover firewalls in enough depth, while the later fills that need perfectly.
If you want a lot of disjointed hacks, the recent O'Reilly hacks books are good fun. I learned a lot from the google hacks book, for example. However they are far from comprehensive (that's not their mandate) and this cookbook really should have been in the *hacks line. Their building secure servers with linux book falls into the same hole - it was based on linux journal entries, and is not a comprehensive security book.
If you want to learn about linux security in a complete fashion, HLE and LF are the only contenders.
(I'd also vote for the Linux Security newsletter which was meantioned below by an AC. Very good. Of course, it falls into the small tidbits of wisdom camp, rather than being a complete solution/education, but that's what you expect in a mailing list.)