Clean install

[hellforgedangel]

Ok im abit of a newbie to security in general yet alone Linux security so i have been doing alot of googleing( And a few other search engines ). Ok i have a clean install of redhat 9 (as it came with a book about linux) and was looking for some general pointers on making it more secure. Like i said ive been searching the net for this stuff so i dont want extensive essays about things that have been written about before, I just want some quick general pointers on how to secure the machine (its is actully a stand alone machine but i want to play about with security as if it was on a network if possible running some common services to try and broaden my somewhat lacking knowledge on the subject). I have already looked into ip tables (i decided on this over ip chains however i have yet to get it working but still i try). Anyway thanks for any input on this also any good sources related to *nix security i can browse would be appreciated

[lessthanzero]

Well, you can start by reading this:

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/docs/LDP/Security-HOWTO/

That should get you as far as understanding what goes into securing a linux host and take you through many of the steps you'll want to take as well.

You can also use Bastille, which automates a large part of the process:

http://www.bastille-linux.org/

To round out the above two, you may want to check out NSA's Security Enhanced Linux (http://www.nsa.gov/selinux/) and read through the documentation.

Lastly, try www.google.com. Searching for "hardening linux" or "linux security" turns up a ton of relevant hits.

Cheers,
<0

[KorpDeath]

You can also start by stopping....that is stopping all running services that you don't need (or don't use) Redhat has a way of assuming that you will just use all these random services and such. So start from square zero and work up from there.

A good general knowledge of exactly what is running on your system will go a long way towards deciding what type of security measures you should implement.

Good luck with ol' Redhat. And when you've finished learning about the wrong way to do most things... load up a real *nix. hehehe (FreeBSD,OPENBSD,etc. etc.) That'll teach you more about network security than linux. IMHO.

peace