Security Toolbox

Hardening Linux for Production Use

Author(s): By Ken Hess

To protect your production server from attacks, employ these common security tools to help safeguard your system.

Special Thanks: This article was made possible by support from Linux Professional Institute

A standard server or minimal install (CentOS) provides you with a secure server system, but its production usefulness is very limited. To make a server production ready, you’ll have to install software such as web services, DNS, DHCP, Samba/CIFS, print services, and databases. Because these services communicate over the network, security vulnerabilities are an inevitability. Exposing any service provides an attack vector. However, there are actions you can take to protect your systems and your data from attacks.

There are too many utilities available, both free and commercial, to help secure your systems. This article provides you a brief overview of the most common methods and utilities to help you maintain system security. Please remember that security is a best effort and that no system is 100 percent secure, but using these hardening suggestions will make it more difficult for malicious actors to compromise your systems.

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