Securing Linux Servers
Linux is widely used to host critical services in Internet-facing settings. This course will show you how to take control of your servers, assess their vulnerability, and significantly reduce their attack surface by hardening the system.
What you'll learn
It is a fact of life that any server that connects directly to the Internet can be attacked. In this course, Securing Linux Servers, you'll learn best practices to reduce the attack surface of those systems. First, you'll learn to take control of booting your machines and see how to assess their vulnerability using a range of open-source tools. Next, you'll put into place some simple best practices to harden them and learn the benefits of SELinux in mitigating the potential damage of 0-day vulnerabilities. Finally, you'll learn how to check the integrity of your file system and detect suspicious activity. No training can claim to make your servers 100% secure, but after completing this course, you'll certainly be able to remove the low-hanging fruit from the reach of would-be attackers. The course uses CentOS7 or RHEL7, plus a number of readily-available open-source tools.
Table of contents
- Why root Is Too Powerful and How to Stop root Logging In 4m
- Demonstration: Disabling Direct root Login 5m
- Restricting the Use of the su Command 6m
- Controlling Privilege Escalation Using sudo 6m
- The /etc/sudoers file 9m
- Introduction to SELinux 8m
- Fixing SELinux File Labeling Errors 9m
- Module Summary 1m
About the author
Dr. Chris Brown has been using UNIX as a software developer and system administrator since its pioneering days over 30 years ago, and has used Linux professionally and at home for about 10 years. He has extensive experience in curriculum design, and in addition to Linux training he has written hands-on courses in UNIX/Linux system programming, network programming, PHP, and distributed computing, and has edited and provided instructional design support for many others. In addition to his ... more