1. Securing Unix systems
A cautious tale to ensure that your data is safe from prying eyes!
By: Jonathan Brackman
ITEC400-V1WW
Professor D’Andrea

2. The necessity to secure your information
All data in an operating system needs to be protected
Each system using it’s own method to secure and harden the operating system
New exploits arrive daily whether we want them to or not
Understanding the importance of patching and updating is vital to operations in both an enterprise environment or a personal environment
Knowing how to harden an OS is a great step to ensuring data integrity

3. All data in an operating system needs to be protected
The need to encrypt data has never been more important to end users in today computing world
One such native option of encryption is dm-crypt. This is a software package that is built into most Linux builds (
Encryption ensures that outside forces (whether with bad intentions or not) are unable to view your data
By using these types of software (many exist that can encrypt hard drives) you are helping to make sure you are safe and secure

4. How to harden an operating system
An important aspect to ensure that your information is safe is to keep your system updated with hot fixes, patches and service packs
This is no different in the Linux world
Each flavor of Linux has its own method to keep the OS up to date and should be researched by flavor to ensure that your OS is updated regularly
Updates to the systems helps plug holes that can occur for any system, especially open source systems
Many vendors are able to send out s with list of vulnerabilities that surface (cnc.ucr.edu)
Subscribing to these lists are an excellent way to know what exploits have been reported and to ensure you system is prepped to stop them from occurring

5. How to harden an operating system
There are a number of applications and services that can be turned off to help lower your security footprint, especially if you don’t intend on using them(cnc.ucr.edu);
Telnetd
Ftpd
Shell/rsh
Login/rlogin
Rcp
Tftp
talk

6. How to harden an operating system
Another key aspect to remember is to secure your network connection
Understanding how to use tools like NMAP and NESTAT will help determine which ports are open to attack and which are not
Another consideration is viruses and malware
Most people believe these systems aren’t vulnerable to these types of attacks but that isn’t necessarily the case
Bad attachments, malicious URLS or even Root Kits can effect a Linux system (
Hardening your system and your end users will ensure that these types of attacks will have the minimum effects on your system

7. Additional information
There are a number of great sites that can be used to ensure that your OS is updated and hardened
These sites are specific to the different flavors of Linux. Other sites definitely exist and should be researched

8. Additional information
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9. Questions?