Master of Science in Information
Security - Earn your Master of Science in Information Security online
from Norwich University. Designated a "Center of Excellence", the program offers
a solid education in the management of information assurance, and the unique case
study method melds theory into practice. Using today's e-Learning technology,
you can earn this esteemed degree, without disrupting your career or home life. LINUX ADVISORY
WATCH - This week, advisories were released for amd64, fetchmail, Mozilla,
heartbeat, clamav, lam, vim, evolution, audit, evolution, mc, kdeaddons, kdeadmin,
kdebase, kdedu, kdegames, kdegraphics, kdemultimedia, kdenetwork, kdepim, kdesdk,
kdetoys, kdeutils, kdevelop, kdewebdev, koffice, xpdf, arts, kdepim, epiphany,
kdbg, doxygen, ncpfs, gaim, pcre, tar, vnc, metacity, cups, pygtk, shadow-utils,
and netpbm. The distributors include Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, an Red Hat.
LinuxSecurity.com
Feature Extras:
Linux File
& Directory Permissions Mistakes - One common mistake Linux administrators
make is having file and directory permissions that are far too liberal and
allow access beyond that which is needed for proper system operations. A full
explanation of unix file permissions is beyond the scope of this article,
so I'll assume you are familiar with the usage of such tools as chmod, chown,
and chgrp. If you'd like a refresher, one is available right here on linuxsecurity.com.
Introduction:
Buffer Overflow Vulnerabilities - Buffer overflows are a leading type
of security vulnerability. This paper explains what a buffer overflow is,
how it can be exploited, and what countermeasures can be taken to prevent
the use of buffer overflow vulnerabilities.
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.
Bulletproof
Virus Protection - Protect your network from costly security
breaches with Guardian Digital’s multi-faceted security applications.
More then just an email firewall, on demand and scheduled scanning detects
and disinfects viruses found on the network. Click
to find out more!
Take advantage of our Linux Security discussion
list! This mailing list is for general security-related questions and comments.
To subscribe send an e-mail to security-discuss-request@linuxsecurity.com
with "subscribe" as the subject.
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.
(IN)SECURE Magazine Issue 3
16th, August, 2005
The third issue of (IN)SECURE, a free digital security magazine published in PDF format, has been released: http://www.insecuremag.com
Wang, Yu, and Yin, the team of Chinese cryptographers that successfully
broke SHA-0 and SHA-1, announced new results against SHA-1 yesterday at
Crypto's rump session. (Actually, Adi Shamir announced the results in
their name, since she and her student did not receiveU.S. visas in time
to attend the conference.)
Once purely a business desktop feature, Trusted Platform Modules
are on the verge of a population explosion which will see them proliferate
inside consumer PCs, servers and possibly even cell phones over the next
few years.
Host Integrity Monitoring Using Osiris and Samhain
22nd, August, 2005
Host integrity monitoring is the process by which system and
network administrators validate and enforce the security of their systems.
This can be a complex suite of approaches, tools, and methodologies, and
it can be as simple as looking at loggin output. In the past, tools like
Tripwire were used to check the configurations on hosts. The freeware
version of this tool was limited in its manageability, which was available
mainly in the commercial version.
CNN reported late Tuesday that a worm had hit computers in its
newsroom, those at rivals ABC and the New York Times, some on Capitol
Hill, and machines in Europe and Asia. Experts assumed that it was the
Zotob bot worm, or one of the other bots that exploit last week's Plug
and Play vulnerability on Windows 2000 machines.
Storage Security Basics: Confidentiality and Integrity
15th, August, 2005
In the first part of our Storage Security Basics series, we
looked at authentication, authorization, accountability and access control.
In this installment, we examine confidentiality and integrity. If you
manage a storage network, one of your primary goals is to ensure that
the data is secure. As the administrator, the confidentiality and integrity
of information is your responsibility. (Data confidentiality refers to
the process of encrypting information to prevent it from being read by
users who weren't intended to have access to it. Data integrity means
that information has not been changed or modified during transit.)
IIS vs. Apache: Which is the right security choice?
16th, August, 2005
Not long ago, Web administrators didn't have a great deal of
input into their organization's Web server platform. If they worked in
a Windows shop, they ran Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS),
while those in Linux/Unix shops were tied to Apache, and never the twain
did meet. However, times have changed and the Apache HTTP Server Project
has broken down the walls by releasing a Windows distribution of the Web
server that traces its historic roots to the original NCSA httpd server.
There are now two "big kids on the block" and Windows administrators,
at least, have some flexibility. (Don't expect Microsoft to release IIS
for Linux anytime soon!)
The most popular open source database for Linux, is MySQL. It's
easy to install and configure, runs light, and is quite fast. You'll commonly
see it harnessed to Apache serving up site content and authenticating
users and offering a tempting target to those with more time than sense
or conscience.
Comodo owned Trustix, developers of the world’s most secure
Linux and inventors of the world’s first WYSIWYG firewall, today announced
that the latest version of Trustix Enterprise Firewall will be available
at no charge. The decision enables administrators to protect their networks
for free with a firewall developed and maintained by Trustix’s highly
skilled firewall developers
A security flaw in Adobe Systems' popular Acrobat and Reader
applications could be used to shut down or hijack vulnerable PCs. By crafting
a malicious PDF file, a remote attacker could cause the applications to
crash or possibly commandeer the target computer, Adobe said in a security
advisory published on Tuesday. The San Jose, Calif.-based software maker
has updates available to fix the problem.
As millions of users already know, Linux is a great choice for
home office use because it's fast, secure, reliable, and cost-effective.
If you use a computer for a home-based business, it's important to expand
your Linux administration efforts beyond installing the right applications.
You'll also want to choose the right hardware and Linux distribution,
set up a backup and disaster recovery plan, pay attention to system security,
and select the right ISP, so your home office will remain profitable,
especially in the event of an unforeseen catastrophe.
A Florida man was found guilty of stealing data from customer
information management company Acxiom Corp. Friday. The prosecution estimates
that Scott Levine and his defunct bulk e-mail marketing firm Snipermail.com
Inc. stole more than 1.6 billion customer records by hacking into an Acxiom
server.
Linux Security, Audit and Control Guidance Featured In New Book from ISACA
19th, August, 2005
More than 10 years after its debut, Linux has matured from a
student hobby to a highly respected platform used by major organizations
worldwide. Because of this growing popularity and increased legislation
requiring tight controls over IT, the Information Systems Audit and Control
Association (ISACA) has issued a new publication with detailed guidance
on security, audit and control of Linux.
