2016-04-11 Michael BoelenLinux Leave a comment

How Linux Security Fails to be Simple

Linux Security Should be Simple, Right? Why that is not a reality, and we might never achieve it. Linux gained great popularity over the last 10 years, powering our servers and smartphones. With all the efforts put in creating more secure software, it seems installing security updates will remain a weekly task. Will this ever change? Security is Hard Properly securing a system means different things for different people. So let’s take the assumption that every system has a particular […]

2015-12-14 (last updated at December 20th, 2015) Michael BoelenPasswords 2 comments

Create random passwords with OpenSSL/LibreSSL

Random Passwords Generation As system administrators, we know we sometimes have to create passwords. It might be for ourselves, or when creating them for colleagues and customers. For an easy and quick way of generating random passwords, we can use the OpenSSL utility, part of OpenSSL and LibreSSL. This toolkit is often already installed on systems running Linux. OpenSSL has a randomize function. If we feed the output through the base64 function, the scrambled set of characters can be made more […]

2015-04-20 Michael BoelenSecure, Software Leave a comment

Simplifying Security: Choose the Right Toolkit, not Tool.

Simplifying Security I applaud many of our customers for being smart. Not to say other people are not, but they have made a specific choice in the past based on an understanding. They understand that a single security solution to make your IT environment safe, simply does not exist. It is the combination of tools, or your toolkit, which does. For this same reason, a carpenter has a tool chest, not a single tool. As a founder, I get to […]

2015-04-16 (last updated at May 2nd, 2015) Michael BoelenAutomation, Containers, Docker Leave a comment

DevOps vs Security: Can Docker make a difference?

One of the pioneers in the world DevOps, is the company Docker Inc. Known for its toolkit around Linux container technology, they propel the way this technology evolves and is promoted to the world. With great achievements and interest from the outside world, also comes a lot of pressure. Competing products are showing up, resulting in a battle for features, pricing and customers. Unfortunately for security professionals like us, the many security lessons from the past seems to be forgotten. […]

2015-03-23 Michael BoelenAutomation, Containers, Docker One comment

Security Best Practices for Building Docker Images

Security Best Practices: Building Docker Images Docker simplifies software packaging by creating small software units. It starts with a base OS image, followed by software installation and finally the configuration adjustments. For building your own images, Docker uses small build files, with the less than original name Dockerfile. Docker build files simplify the build process and help creating consistent containers, over and over. Unfortunately developers don’t always take security into account during the build process, resulting in software which is installed insecurely. […]

2015-03-12 (last updated at October 9th, 2016) Michael BoelenPerformance, System Administration, Web 4 comments

Optimize SSL/TLS for Maximum Security and Speed

Optimize SSL/TLS for Maximum Security and Speed High Goal Setting Recently we changed our corporate website into a “HTTPS only” version. Most of the content is not secret information, still we have some sensitive areas. The ordering section and downloads, and additional our portal. While some areas were already covered with a lock, we felt it was time to make the jump to cover it all. Additionally, we believe that we doing everything we can on our website, practicing security […]

2015-02-26 Michael BoelenHardening, Secure 2 comments

5 Basic Principles of Linux System Security

5 Basic Principles of Linux System Security It is still common that people do not know where to start when it comes to information security. With 5 basic principles we can improve the Linux system security and question ourselves if we have done enough. 1. Know your system(s) The first principle is about knowing what your system is supposed to do. What is its primary role, what software packages does it need and who needs access? By knowing the […]

2015-01-22 (last updated at March 23rd, 2017) Michael BoelenContainers Leave a comment

Docker Security: Best Practices for your Vessel and Containers

Docker Security Everything you need to know about Docker security. Introduction into Docker Docker became very popular in a matter of just a few years. Operating systems like CoreOS use Docker to power the system by running applications on top of their own lightweight platform. Docker in its turn, provides utilities around technologies like Linux container technology (e.g. LXC, systemd-nspawn, libvirt). Previously Docker could be described as the “automated LXC”, now it’s actually even more powerful. What it definitely […]

2014-10-19 (last updated at October 20th, 2014) Michael BoelenAuditing, Software, System Administration Leave a comment

Yum plugins: Available plugins and built-in security support

Enhancing yum Determine available plugins and built-in security support To enhance the support in our auditing tool Lynis, we wanted to know if yum supports security related functions by using a plugin or having it as built-in functionality. Yum Yum, or Yellowdog Updater Modified, is a software management tool for Linux based systems. Usually it is used on systems running SuSE or Red Hat based (like RHEL, Fedora or CentOS). Plugins extend the functionality of yum, to improve its functionality. […]

2014-06-30 (last updated at October 20th, 2014) Michael BoelenAuditing Leave a comment

Audit security events on Unix systems

Audit security events on Unix systems Protecting computer networks consists of implementing preventative measures, but especially properly implementing detection methods. These digital tripwires can be used for intrusion detection, or proper handling security events on Unix systems. Security events First we have to define a few events which are or can be security related. To get easily started, we focus on 3 tips to implement security events on Unix systems. 1. File changes Some files you don’t want to change […]

2014-04-27 (last updated at June 26th, 2018) Michael BoelenHardening, Kernel, Linux

Linux kernel security and how to improve it

Every system is as strong as its weakest link. In the case of an operating system like Linux, one weakness in the kernel could result in a security breach. This article covers the Linux kernel features and how they work. Kernel features Live kernel patching As the kernel is similar to other software, it receives updates to improve it. Now and then a security weakness is discovered in one of the subsystems of the Linux kernel. This means that Linux […]

2014-04-21 (last updated at June 23rd, 2018) Michael BoelenAuditing, Linux

Conducting a Linux Server Security Audit

Conducting a Linux Server Security Audit Auditing a system can be a time-consuming job, which is no different when conducting a Linux server security audit. Within this article, we give some highlights regarding the audit and tips to automate them by using Lynis. The business goal Before auditing any system, determine the business goal of the system. How critical is this system for doing business? What if the system goes down? Usually each system has a clear role or multiple […]

2014-04-15 (last updated at October 20th, 2014) Michael BoelenAuditing, Linux, Lynis, Software

Open source vulnerability scanner for Linux systems – Lynis

Open source vulnerability scanner for Linux There are several open source vulnerability scanners for Linux, like OpenVAS. While tools like these are powerful as well, we will have a look at Lynis, our auditing tool to detect vulnerabilities of Linux and Unix systems. Why is it different than others and how can it help you in securing your systems? Vulnerabilities Every piece of software will have sooner or later a vulnerability, a minor or major weakness which can be abused […]

2014-03-15 (last updated at February 1st, 2016) Michael BoelenSoftware

Auditing Linux: Software Packages and Managers

Auditing Linux: Software Packages and Managers No system can do its job without any installed software packages. However after installation of the system, or running it for a while, it often becomes unclear why some software was ever installed. This article looks at methods on auditing installed software, check for security updates and the related follow-up. Package managers To enable system administrators to properly manage software and upgrading them, Linux uses a package manager. This suite often consists of a […]