A.P. Lawrence

Hardening Linux

• James Turnbull
• Apress
• 1590594444

Order (or just read more about) Hardening Linux  from Amazon.com

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Oh, a book on iptables? No. Oh, sure, this does cover iptables, but this is a complete, soup to nuts Linux security book, starting with installation and proceeding right through to what to do if you have been breached. About the only thing not covered is web server security which, as the author explains, needs a whole other book (and there is one: Hardening Apache).

RedHat and Debian differences are noted, with an occasional nod toward Suse. I was really impressed by both the breadth and depth of coverage here, and by the practical advice. Right off the bat he tells you the same advice I keep giving people: if you don't need it, don't run it. He then goes on to cover the details of things you probably will be running.

At 400 pages, with content covering everything from root kits, email security, ftp, dns and bind, file systems, pam authentication, firewalls, penetration testing and more, the most amazing thing about this is how well the topics are covered. Obviously many of these subjects could run hundreds of pages by themselves, and yet the author has captured the most important details and explained the basic concepts quite weill.

Recommended for anyone running Linux.