A Linux machine is only as secure as the administrator configures it to be. Once we have installed the Linux distribution of our choice and have removed all the unnecessary packages post installation, we can start working on the security aspect of the system by fine-tuning the installed software and services.
In this chapter, we will discuss the following topics:
- Configuring server security
- Security policy—server security
- Defining security controls
- Missing backup plans
The following recipes will be covered in the chapter:
- Checking the integrity of installation medium using checksum
- Using LUKS disk encryption
- Making use of sudoers—configuring sudo access
- Scanning hosts with Nmap
- Gaining root on a vulnerable Linux system
- Missing backup plans
