[ale] security

[Glenn C. Lasher Jr.]

On Sun, 11 Apr 1999, michael mcdermott wrote:

> are there any other security oriented mailing lists like CERT and
> bugtraq around that are worth subscribing to?
> also is there any info on "advanced" techniques for securing a linux
> box. I looked at the howto and its pretty basic, covers almost all the
> important stuff, but i was more interested in the arcane and esoteric
> things that you could do if you were a really paranoid bastard (which i
> am)

Here is a brief summary, provided from Archangel on the alt.2600 newsgroup
some time ago:

    1. Edit your /etc/inetd.conf and remove all services you don't
actually need, then kill and restart inetd. As a rule of the thumb,
comment out what you don't understand :)

    2. Install and configure a tcp wrapper that only allows network
connections from sites you allow to connect. Most Linux distributions
have one preinstalled, see files /etc/hosts.[allow|deny] and the
corresponding manpages.

    3. Disable root logins that do not come from the console. See the
shadow documentation how to do this.

    4. If you're running a whole network that carries important,
sensitive or secret data, I'd recommend turning one of your Linux
boxes into a firewall.

As with all things, there are those who may disagree, but that is why
this newsgroup is such a great forum for intelligent debate.




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