Get the LinuxSecurity news you want faster with RSS
Powered By
SELinux
Want to know how to make Linux really secure? Security Enhanced Linux (SE Linux), a system of security policies developed by the NSA, let you secure Linux at every level from the kernel up. Find out how EnGarde Secure Linux and others build and maintain a truly secure server environment.
Source: searchenterpriselinux - Posted by Bill Keys
SELinux has achieved its goal of protecting Linux systems from intrusion by unauthorized access. But the effort remains in the early adopter stage, and its supporters need to work on broader implementation and greater ease of use, according to Doc Shankar, an IBM Corp. distinguished engineer.
In a preview of his LinuxWorld Conference & Expo workshop, Shankar said that the biggest benefit of SELinux is that systemwide policies automatically and absolutely enforce access controls. No one gets the unrestricted access of a "root" superuser; instead, each user is confined to what he needs to know, he said. In the case of a breech, an intruder is boxed in and can destroy only a portion of the system, he said.
This article is an interesting look at one IBM Engineer's opinion about SELinux. Do you agree with what he says?
Tresys have announced the release of version 3.0 of their CDS (Cross Domain Solutions) Toolkit, an Eclipse-based IDE for developing CDSs with SELinux. Notable features introduced in this release include support for MLS and labeled networking, with enhancements to end user customization of generated policy and to the general development environment.
Do you use any IDE programs to write and develop your SELinux policy or do you use a basic editor like vi? Which is better or more productive?
Red Hat has undoubtedly done more to make SELinux usable than any other organization, but has it actually reached the point where it can be enabled by default for all desktops? The Fedora project clearly thinks so. Not only is SELinux enabled, but the installer no longer has an option to disable it or to put it into "permissive" mode. Most of the posts in a thread on the fedora-devel mailing list see that as the right choice, but some are not so sure.
This article looks at how SELinux is working on the Fedora desktop. It brings up a interesting question on how useful is SELinux on a Linux Desktop? What do you think?
Source: searchenterpriselinux - Posted by Bill Keys
Linux security may seem daunting, but there are a host of best practices to simplify the maze. Recently, Steve Grubb of Red Hat Inc. outlined some important security principles, including minimizing admin access, the increasing sophistication of SELinux and the importance of auditing systems.
Like many when I think about least privileges, I think about SELinux. What do you think about? This article is a interview with a Red Hat expert that answers questions about SELinux and least privileges.
Dan Walsh has announced preliminary Ruby support for libselinux (the core SELinux management library). This is to enable the integration of the Puppet systems management tool with SELinux, and should also allow other Ruby applications to be similarly integrated.
I can see some uses for this but how many ruby applications will be using these binding for libselinux? Will we see more programming language having binding to this SELinux library?
Chris PeBenito has announced the latest release of Reference Policy. Notable changes in this release include the ability to specify SELinux roles in loadable policy modules, improved labeled networking support, and new policy modules for virtualization packages.
This release improved the functionality of SELinux loadable policy modules. With this update SELinux seems to be in the right direction, what do you think?
Paul Moore of HP has announced the release of version 0.18 of NetLabel Tools, a suite for managing explict labeled networking (i.e. attaching labels to packets via IP options) under Linux. This release adds support for static and fallback labels in the 2.6.25 kernel, in addition to several bugfixes and enhancements.
Do you use SELinux for on your system to improve it's security and use NetLabel? If so what do you think about it? Does it help make managing a SELinux installed machine?
The NSA have announced the release of updated version of the core SELinux code, available from their web site. This release includes support for permissive domains (allowing permissive mode on a per-domain basis), user and role mapping via sepol, and various minor fixes and enhancements.
Security-enhanced Linux (SELinux) was originally developed as a research prototype of the Linux® kernel and a number of utilities with enhanced security functionality designed to demonstrate the value of mandatory access controls to the Linux community and how such controls could be added to Linux. Today SELinux is integrated into the mainline Linux 2.6 kernel series and several Linux distributions. The Security-enhanced Linux kernel contains new architectural components originally developed to improve the security of the Flask operating system.
Have you used the latest Ubuntu version with SELinux enabled? If so what was your experience? This article is a step by step guide to learning how-to setup SELinux with Ubuntu. Test it out and let us know how it goes.
Source: Packt Publishing - Posted by Eckie Silapaswang
In this article by David Mercer, we will look at an entirely different aspect of running a Drupal website. Once we have added the functionality to the site, we now have to give some thoughts about how this functionality is to be accessed, or by whom. As the site grows, you will most likely feel the need to delegate certain responsibilities to various people. Alternatively, you might organize a team of people to work on specific aspects of the site. Whatever is required, at some stage you will have to make decisions about who can do what, and Drupal makes sure that it is possible to do precisely this.
This article on access control in Drupal has many similarities to implementing policies in SELinux. For those of you who are new to SELinux and are unsure of how "it works", this article may provide insight through a practical example of roles and permissions in a microcosm CMS world.
