Building Secure Servers with Linux

This text should help you master the principles of reliable system and network security by combining practical advice with a firm knowledge of the tech nical tools needed to ensure security. The book focuses on the most common use of Linux - as a hub offering services to an organization or the larger Internet--and shows readers how to harden their hosts against attacks. Author Mick Bauer, a security consultant, network architect, and lead author of the popular Paranoid Penguin column in Linux Journal, carefully outlines the security risks, defines precautions that can minimize those risks, and offers recipes for robust security. The book does not cover firewalls, but covers the more common situation where an organization protects its hub using other systems as firewalls, often proprietary firewalls. The book includes: precise directions for securing common services, including the Web, mail, DNS, and file transfer. Ancillary tasks, such as hardening Linux, using SSH and certificates for tunnelling, and using iptables for firewalling. Basic installation of intrusion detection tools.
Writing for Linux users with little security expertise, the author explains security concepts and techniques in clear language, beginning with the fundamentals. "Building Secure Servers with Linux"provides a balance of "big picture" principles that transcend specific software packages and version numbers, and very clear procedures on securing some of those software packages. An all-inclusive resource for Linux users who wish to harden their systems, the book covers general security as well as key services such as DNS, the Apache Web server, mail, file transfer, and secure shell. With this book in hand, you'll have everything you need to ensure robust security of your Linux system.