When ICMP is enabled, malicious attacks including network discovery, covert communication channels, and network traffic redirections can be executed. Below are a few examples of types of attacks that can be unleashed when ICMP is enabled. With such a large and active open-source community around Linux, security issues within the kernel and packages are fixed quickly. These fixes are available in the form of updated packages or patches in the Linux kernel. Security vulnerabilities in such software can lead to compromised servers, so make it a practice to uninstall unnecessary programs. Allowing booting from unauthorized external devices can allow attackers to bypass the security of your system by booting the operating system from their external device.
This enhanced security can be attributed to the encryption utilized by both the server being logged into and the computer being used. At a minimum, an SSH key pair represents the equivalent of a 12-character password. linux hardening and security lessons In reality, however, the vast majority of SSH key pairs are even more complex. For this reason, SSH key pairs should be one of the first measures implemented when adopting a proactive server security strategy.
Cloud Security Suite (cloud security toolkit)
The more changes, the bigger the risk that something will no longer work. Both the kernel and the packaged software can contain vulnerabilities. On top of that, there is also a system configuration that can have its flaws. So in other words, also Linux systems still need OS hardening. Since Kali Linux is a Debian-based Linux distribution, you can use the Linux hardening tips above to address the security weaknesses in Kali Linux systems. Of course, never use root and always make sure that sudo elevation is used only on an as-needed basis.
This includes package repository information, installed packages, and all manually installed software. Now disable password authentication by setting the PasswordAuthentication value to no in the etc/ssh/sshd_config file. Hardening your Linux instances doesn’t mean that you’re safe from every malicious attack, though, it just reduces the attack surface. For Defense in depth security through runtime protection and visibility get started with Intezer Protect for free.
Enable Firewall
Using Linux iptables to keep a tab on incoming, outgoing, and forwarded practices can help you secure your servers. You can configure “allow” and “deny” rules to accept or send traffic from specific IP addresses. This restricts the unchecked traffic movement on your servers.
- You can find out all active cronjobs for a user by using the following command.
- Similarly for Linux Mint, as an Ubuntu-derived Desktop Linux platform, the same hardening procedures used for Debian-Linux should be adopted.
- Edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file to set security policies for ssh.
- Besides this password length and complexity, we can also configure how often a user should change his or her password.