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Information Security Techniques
By: Benjamin D. Thomas
When addressing matters of information confidentiality, integrity, and availability, there are four perspectives that can be taken when introducing security controls. A control can be a protection, detection, response, or assurance mechanism. It is not uncommonfor a single control to provide information security on multiple levels.
Protection: A protection mechanism is used to prevent security incidents from occurring. Examples of protection mechanisms include: firewall rules, access control lists, encrypting packets that transverse over a network, passwords, biometrics, etc.
Detection: It is an information security mechanism that detects when an incident is occurring, and allows a business to adjust its course of action. Detection mechanisms include: intrusion detection systems, virus/spam scanners, vulnerability scanning, quotas, logging alerts, etc. Detection mechanisms often lead into response mechanisms, and are often the same as or similar to assurance mechanisms.
Response: A response mechanism addresses the consequences of a security incident and helps the organization return to a normal state. Response mechanisms can either be in the form of technical security controls (e.g. intrusion prevention system), policy (e.g. requiring a computer emergency response team), or procedures developed for all persons to follow during an incident.
Assurance: Assurance mechanisms give management or third parties the ability to verify the effectiveness of the security controls in place. It may include logging, auditing, and reporting capabilities. Assurance is important to help justify further expenditure on information security projects.
LinuxSecurity.com Feature Extras:
Getting to Know Linux Security: File Permissions - Welcome to the first tutorial in the 'Getting to Know Linux Security' series. The topic explored is Linux file permissions. It offers an easy to follow explanation of how to read permissions, and how to set them using chmod. This guide is intended for users new to Linux security, therefore very simple. If the feedback is good, I'll consider creating more complex guides for advanced users. Please let us know what you think and how these can be improved.
The Tao of Network Security Monitoring: Beyond Intrusion Detection - To be honest, this was one of the best books that I've read on network security. Others books often dive so deeply into technical discussions, they fail to provide any relevance to network engineers/administrators working in a corporate environment. Budgets, deadlines, and flexibility are issues that we must all address. The Tao of Network Security Monitoring is presented in such a way that all of these are still relevant.
Encrypting Shell Scripts - Do you have scripts that contain sensitive information like passwords and you pretty much depend on file permissions to keep it secure? If so, then that type of security is good provided you keep your system secure and some user doesn't have a "ps -ef" loop running in an attempt to capture that sensitive info (though some applications mask passwords in "ps" output).
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Thank you for reading the LinuxSecurity.com weekly security newsletter. The purpose of this document is to provide our readers with a quick summary of each week's most relevant Linux security headline.
| Debian | ||
| Debian: New ppxp packages fix local root exploit | ||
| 19th, May, 2005
Updated package. advisories/debian/debian-new-ppxp-packages-fix-local-root-exploit-87195 |
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| Debian: New oops packages fix format string vulnerability | ||
| 20th, May, 2005
Updated package. advisories/debian/debian-new-oops-packages-fix-format-string-vulnerability |
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| Debian: New libconvert-uulib-perl packages fix arbitrary code execution | ||
| 20th, May, 2005
Updated package. advisories/debian/debian-new-libconvert-uulib-perl-packages-fix-arbitrary-code-execution |
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| Debian: New qpopper packages fix arbitrary file overwriting | ||
| 25th, May, 2005
Updated package. advisories/debian/debian-new-qpopper-packages-fix-arbitrary-file-overwriting-40167 |
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| Debian: New qpopper packages fix arbitrary file overwriting | ||
| 26th, May, 2005
Updated package. advisories/debian/debian-new-qpopper-packages-fix-arbitrary-file-overwriting-40167 |
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| Fedora | ||
| Fedora Core 3 Update: gail-1.8.0-3.fc3 | ||
| 19th, May, 2005
The tamil translations in the gail package were not encoded in UTF-8. advisories/fedora/fedora-core-3-update-gail-180-3fc3-15-37-00-119155 |
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| Fedora Core 3 Update: dmraid-1.0.0.rc8-FC3_2 | ||
| 23rd, May, 2005
Updated packages. advisories/fedora/fedora-core-3-update-dmraid-100rc8-fc32-12-02-00-119173 |
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| Fedora Core 3 Update: openssl-0.9.7a-42.1 | ||
| 23rd, May, 2005
Updated package. advisories/fedora/fedora-core-3-update-openssl-097a-421-12-03-00-119174 |
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| Fedora Core 3 Update: openssl096b-0.9.6b-21.1 | ||
| 23rd, May, 2005
Updated package. advisories/fedora/fedora-core-3-update-openssl096b-096b-211-12-03-00-119175 |
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| Fedora Core 3 Update: kernel-2.6.11-1.27_FC3 | ||
| 23rd, May, 2005
Updated package. advisories/fedora/fedora-core-3-update-kernel-2611-127fc3-14-05-00-119176 |
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| Fedora Core 3 Update: netpbm-10.27-3.FC3 | ||
| 24th, May, 2005
Updated package. advisories/fedora/fedora-core-3-update-netpbm-1027-3fc3-11-12-00-119183 |
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| Fedora Core 3 Update: sudo-1.6.7p5-30.2 | ||
| 24th, May, 2005
Updated package. advisories/fedora/fedora-core-3-update-sudo-167p5-302-11-55-00-119186 |
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| Fedora Core 3 Update: texinfo-4.8-2.1 | ||
| 24th, May, 2005
This is an upgrade to 4.8, which fixes a segmentation fault problem. advisories/fedora/fedora-core-3-update-texinfo-48-21-12-07-00-119187 |
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| Gentoo | ||
| Gentoo: Cheetah Untrusted module search path | ||
| 19th, May, 2005
Cheetah contains a vulnerability in the module importing code that can allow a local user to gain escalated privileges. |
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| Gentoo: Kommander Insecure remote script execution | ||
| 20th, May, 2005
The fixed ebuild proposed in the original version of this Security Advisory did not address all the vulnerabilities. |
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| Gentoo: FreeRADIUS SQL injection and Denial of Service vulnerability | ||
| 20th, May, 2005
The FreeRADIUS server is vulnerable to an SQL injection attack and a buffer overflow, possibly resulting in disclosure and modification of data and Denial of Service. |
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| Gentoo: gdb Multiple vulnerabilities | ||
| 20th, May, 2005
Multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in the GNU debugger, potentially allowing the execution of arbitrary code. |
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| Gentoo: ImageMagick, GraphicsMagick Denial of Service | ||
| 21st, May, 2005
ImageMagick and GraphicsMagick utilities can be abused to perform a Denial of Service attack. |
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| Gentoo: Qpopper Multiple Vulnerabilities | ||
| 23rd, May, 2005
Qpopper contains two vulnerabilities allowing an attacker to overwrite arbitrary files and create files with insecure permissions. |
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| Gentoo: Net-SNMP fixproc insecure temporary file creation | ||
| 23rd, May, 2005
Net-SNMP creates temporary files in an insecure manner, possibly allowing the execution of arbitrary code. |
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| Gentoo: gxine Format string vulnerability | ||
| 26th, May, 2005
A format string vulnerability in gxine could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code. |
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| Red Hat | ||
| RedHat: Low: evolution security update | ||
| 19th, May, 2005
Updated evolution packages that fix various bugs are now available. This update has been rated as having low security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team. advisories/red-hat/redhat-low-evolution-security-update-RHSA-2005-238-01 |
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| RedHat: Important: firefox security update | ||
| 23rd, May, 2005
Updated firefox packages that fix various security bugs are now available. This update has been rated as having important security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team. advisories/red-hat/redhat-important-firefox-security-update-89533 |
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| RedHat: Important: mozilla security update | ||
| 23rd, May, 2005
Updated mozilla packages that fix various security bugs are now available. This update has been rated as having important security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team. advisories/red-hat/redhat-important-mozilla-security-update-5331 |
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| RedHat: Moderate: ethereal security update | ||
| 24th, May, 2005
Updated Ethereal packages that fix various security vulnerabilities are now available. This update has been rated as having moderate security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team. advisories/red-hat/redhat-moderate-ethereal-security-update-43419 |
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| RedHat: Moderate: lesstif security update | ||
| 24th, May, 2005
Updated lesstif packages that fix flaws in the Xpm library are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1. This update has been rated as having Moderate security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team. advisories/red-hat/redhat-moderate-lesstif-security-update-RHSA-2005-473-01 |
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| RedHat: Important: ImageMagick security update | ||
| 25th, May, 2005
Updated ImageMagick packages that fix a buffer overflow issue are now available. This update has been rated as having important security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team. advisories/red-hat/redhat-important-imagemagick-security-update-RHSA-2005-413-01 |
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| RedHat: Important: kernel security update | ||
| 25th, May, 2005
Updated kernel packages that fix several security issues in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 kernel are now available. This security advisory has been rated as having important security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team. advisories/red-hat/redhat-important-kernel-security-update-85756 |
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