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Bastille Adds Reporting, Grabs Fed Attention

Posted by timothy on from the soon-comes-the-boiling-oil dept.

johnny.ihackstuff.com writes "NewsForge interviews the Bastille project lead Jay Beale about Bastille's cool new assessment feature, which reports and scores Linux security and -- as always -- makes Linux lockdown super-easy. Available for many distros and Mac OS X, too. Best of all, it's free and open source!" As Jay points out in the interview, the work was "sponsored by the U.S. government's Technical Support Working Group." An anonymous reader summarizes the new capability: "In essence, Bastille now does two things. In one mode, it locks down an operating system, tweaking the configuration for increased security, asking you about each step and teaching you along the way. In the new Assessment mode, it reports on what hardening steps have been taken and what could be taken."

13 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. Call me a bluff traditionalist... by gowen · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... but if I were starting a Linux security project, I'd name it after a prison which was difficult to escape from, rather than one famous for being stormed by about 1,000 upset Frenchmen.

    --
    Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
    1. Re:Call me a bluff traditionalist... by Qzukk · · Score: 4, Funny

      rather than one famous for being stormed by about 1,000 upset Frenchmen.

      Good thing I don't need to keep 1000 upset Frenchmen out of my server ;)

      --
      If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
    2. Re:Call me a bluff traditionalist... by gowen · · Score: 5, Funny
      Bastille is a French word meaning "castle" or "stronghold"
      And "C'était une plaisanterie, vous clod d'humeur-moins" is a French phrase meaning "It was a joke, you humourless clod."
      --
      Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
    3. Re:Call me a bluff traditionalist... by mattyrobinson69 · · Score: 2, Funny

      I dont think they'd be a problem, im guessing bash doesn't understand outrageous comical accents.

    4. Re:Call me a bluff traditionalist... by jd · · Score: 2, Funny

      If you recall correctly? I hope you mean if someone else recalls correctly. :)

      --
      It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
  2. Well... by JavaMoose · · Score: 4, Funny
    I downloaded this, but I can't get it to run.

    Anyone else haveing problems getting this to run on Windows XP?

    1. Re:Well... by ggvaidya · · Score: 1, Funny

      Me too!

      Do you get error code "4.09 Windows XP? Am I on candid camera?" too? Maybe we should report this ...

  3. Needs to be point and click. by Guano_Jim · · Score: 4, Funny

    The download instructions for OSX were a little intimidating, even for someone like me with basic Unix skills...

    Once Bastille for OSX becomes completely point and click it will take off like Jean Valjean after stealing a loaf of bread.

    --
    3D Printing Tips and Tricks at Zheng3.com
    1. Re:Needs to be point and click. by clickster · · Score: 2, Funny

      Once Bastille for OSX becomes completely point and click it will take off like Jean Valjean after stealing a loaf of bread.

      As I recall, he didn't get very far, did he...Javert (sp?) my old friend.

      --
      If you mod me down, I shall become less powerful than you could possibly imagine.
  4. Re:A windows version by NickHewitt · · Score: 1, Funny

    There is a windows version - its called the Microsoft Security Centre - it checks to see if you have an AV package, XP firewall turned on and Automatic updates switched on.. what more do you need to secure a windows box?

  5. Re:Scoring systems by gowen · · Score: 5, Funny
    People are by nature competative and will strive to improve a "score" even if it doesn't necessarily help them in any way
    You're talking rubbish. Now, excuse me, I've got to go and whore some more Karma.
    --
    Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
  6. Hah! You silly American programmers! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    I wave my private parts in your general direction!

    [hurls poop]

  7. Re:Why do we need to harden distros ? by iamnotanumber6 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I built a very secure version too.

    1) It had no shells of any sort, nor any user interface of any sort.

    2) It would not mount any file system at all.

    3) It had a firewall consisting of a one-inch air gap between the power cord and the power supply, which effectively prevented all unwanted electrons from breaking into the system.

    This was *really* the ultimate in Linux security.