In this approach, you add the public key of the remote client systems to the known keys list on the SSH server. This way, those client machines can access SSH without entering the user account password. No matter how much you try, you’ll always see bad login attempts via SSH on your Linux server. The attackers are smart and the scripts they use often take care of the default settings of Fail2Ban like tools. In the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file, make sure to set PermitEmptyPasswords option to no.
It is possible to have user accounts in Linux without any passwords. If those users try to use SSH, they won’t need passwords for accessing the server via SSH as well. A general rule for a strong password would be one that is at least 8 characters long and has at least one letter, one number, and one special character.
Embedded Linux Hardening
The Linux kernel uses file permissions as a first layer to see if a user is granted access to a particular file or directory. It also defines what type of access is granted, such as read-only access or more. Although there are several combinations possible, it is not fine-grained. To define a more detailed kind of access, file ACLs can be used. There is the risk that a change can have unexpected consequences.
Like the authoritative resources above, there are specialized companies in the field. To prevent giving any company special treatment, we will not mention any unless it warrants a mention. Examples may include kernel development, work on security software, or other great contributions to the field. Linux will hash the password to avoid saving it in cleartext so, you need to make sure to define a secure password hashing algorithm SHA512.
Update your Linux system
Print the checklist and check off each item you complete to ensure that you cover the critical steps for securing your server. The Information Security Office uses this checklist during risk assessments as part of the process to verify that servers are secure. The application rsync is a popular option for backing up data in Linux.
Please note that you need to reset the change to read-write if you need to upgrade the kernel in future. In NIC bonding, we bond two or more Network Ethernet Cards together and make one single virtual Interface where we can assign IP address to talk with other servers. Our network will be available in case of one NIC Card is down or unavailable due to any reason. In a production system, it is necessary to take important files backup and keep them in safety vault, remote site or offsite for Disasters recovery. The lock and unlock features are very useful, instead of removing an account from the system, you can lock it for an week or a month.
Log Configuration
Don’t forget to configure expiration, as no password can provide adequate security indefinitely. System hardening is the linux hardening and security lessons process of doing the ‘right’ things. So the system hardening process for Linux desktop and servers is that that special.
- Ghassan Khawaja holds a BS degree in computer Science, he specializes in .NET development and IT security including C# .NET, asp.Net, HTML5 and ethical hacking.
- In the area of system operations or information security, the usage of any checklist requires a serious warning.
- Incoming, outgoing, and forwarded packets can be filtered as needed.
- Still, don’t be scared and test your changes first on a virtual system where you always have root access.
- In computing, hardening is the term that we use for describing the securing of a system.
- These include the principle of least privilege, segmentation, and reduction.
- This is because only support for this framework is compiled into the Linux kernel.