Benchmark
Using Open Source Auditing Tools as alternative to CIS Benchmarks
Hardening guides, and the CIS benchmarks in particular, are a great resource to harden your system. But there are alternatives.
Summary
An alternative to CIS Benchmarks and hardening guides
Hardening guides, and the CIS benchmarks in particular, are a great resource to check your system for possible weaknesses and conduct system hardening. But who has the time to read it cover to cover, and apply every single step? In this article, we have a look at the alternative: open source auditing tools.
Time..
Hardening is a time-consuming task. As security specialists, we know that. It involves many small steps, followed by even more testing and troubleshooting. Unfortunately, time is something we can spend only once, making it a scarce resource.
Are security hardening guides still useful?
With Linux being decently hardened by default, would it make sense to invest in reading hardening guides? The short answer: yes!
Summary
This was the big question we asked ourselves recently, when reading a few of them. With Linux and other Unix systems being decently hardened by default, would it still make sense to invest a lot of time to harden your system?
Hardening guides
Years ago both Windows and Linux were easy targets. A lot of system software was installed by default and these services were targeted often by malicious people and scripts. Then hardening guides came along on how to secure these services and protect systems.