"Throw up a Linux box," comes the chorus whenever there's a need to provide some network service or other without impinging upon the boss's martini budget. Fair enough, but by doing so are you opening security holes you don't know how to find or fix? The newest edition of Hacking Linux Exposed helps you answer that question and solve many of the security problems you find. To a certain extent this book is a recipe collection in that it describes weaknesses in Linux (calling attention to specific distributions where appropriate). The authors stop short of explicitly showing you how to wage most kinds of attacks, a reasonable thing to do from an ethical point of view even though the instructions can be found easily on the Internet. Rather than do that, they give step-by-step instructions on how to defend against the attacks they catalog. The point is not, "Here's precisely how to bring down a server by means of an ACK storm," but rather, "Here's how to defend against such problems." They do demonstrate plenty of weaknesses, though, as in their coverage of the conversation that goes back and forth between an FTP server and its client.

This book covers pretty much everything you'd want to do with a Linux machine as a network server. Read it and see some of the weaknesses in your system--and do something about them before someone else does. --David Wall

Topics covered: Security best practices, approached from the perspective of what can go wrong and what can be done about the problems. Specific coverage goes to all major services, including user management, FTP, HTTP, and firewalling.

From Book News, Inc.
Dedicated to "all Open Source developers, ethical hackers, and supporters of full disclosure...," this edition further details Linux security secrets, hackers' strategies (denial of service attacks merit a new chapter), and countermeasures for protecting this increasingly popular operating system against 'crackers' (malicious hackers). Includes risk ratings, other tips and cautions; and appended information on discovering/recovering from an attack, additional ways to foil attacks, and case studies. No date is given for the first edition. The authors are with a consulting firm specializing in network security and related areas.Copyright © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Book Description

Tighten holes and maintain security on your Linux system! From the publisher of the international best-seller, Hacking Exposed: Network Security Secrets & Solutions, comes this must-have security handbook for anyone running Linux. This up-to-date edition shows you how to think like a Linux hacker in order to beat the Linux hacker. You'll get detailed information on Linux-specific hacks, both internal and external, and how to stop them.

Book Info
Provides new coverage of wireless hacking. Includes new examples of Linux attacks and countermeasures throughout. Case studies are included. Softcover.

From the Back Cover

"Years of collective hands-on expertise for those who want to actually understand the Linux threats and countermeasures. Excellent!" --Dave Wreski, CEO, Guardian Digital and co-author of Linux Security HOTWO

Secure your Linux network by thinking like an attacker

Evolving Web technology and new software releases make online security more challenging than ever. The number of hackers--both sophisticated crackers and script-kiddies--is growing constantly, and it's just a matter of time before your network becomes a target. Hacking Linux Exposed, Second Edition shows you, step-by-step, how to proactively defend against the latest Linux-specific attacks by getting inside the mind of today's most devious hackers. You'll learn how intruders gather information, specify targets, exploit weak spots, and gain control--usually while remaining undetected. Read case studies about both common and little-known break-ins, tips on how and why they occurred, and detailed countermeasures against these attacks. If you're a Linux professional who's serious about security, this is the one book you can't afford to be without.

What you'll learn: The proven Hacking Exposed methodology to locate and fix vulnerable points in networks and Linux software Details on security features of all Linux distributions--including Red Hat, Debian, SuSE, and Slackware How to successfully use vulnerability scanning tools, intrusion detections systems, honeypots, and log analysis software Best practices for using whois databases, ping sweeps, DNS zone transfers, and port scans Common mail server bugs, tips for email encryption, and spam prevention Latest attack methods involving Trojaned programs, back doors, kernel hacks, password cracks, and session hijacking Ways to protect against Denial of Service and wireless network attacks Methods for preventing local users from getting root privileges Rules for using TCP wrappers and firewall strategies with ipchains and iptables Valuable checklists and tips on hardening your system based on the authors' real-world experience

About the Author

Brian Hatch is a UNIX/Linux security consultant, administrator, and expert hacker with Onsight, Inc. He has taught various courses at Northwestern University and is the co-maintainer of Stunnel, a widely used secure SSL wrapper. He is the lead author of the first edition of Hacking Exposed Linux.

James Lee is a Perl hacker, Linux administrator, security consultant, and open source advocate. James is the founder and CEO of Onsight Inc., a consulting firm specializing in Perl training and web development. James is also a co-author of the first edition of Hacking Exposed Linux.

George Kurtz, co-author of all three editions of the international best-seller, Hacking Exposed, and co-author of Hacking Exposed Linux is the CEO of Foundstone, Inc., a premier security consulting and training company.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Remember when people used to say Linux was inherently secure because all bugs are shallow, including security bugs -- and, anyhow, the ￯﾿ﾽblack hats￯﾿ﾽ only hate Microsoft? Yeah, right! Unfortunately, you do need Hacking Linux Exposed, Second Edition.

Authors Brian Hatch and James Lee have added 200 pages of new content to this edition -- and they￯﾿ﾽve overhauled everything else to reflect the latest Linux exploits, cracking tools, and countermeasures. To help you set priorities on defense, every exploit is rated from 0 to 10 on popularity, simplicity, impact, and overall risk.

We found the sections on break-ins particularly useful. You￯﾿ﾽll find everything here from ￯﾿ﾽMitnick-ian￯﾿ﾽ social engineering to physical and network attacks. For example, you probably know that systems running LILO are susceptible to being booted to single-user mode without passwords; you may not realize that newer systems using GRUB have their own vulnerabilities. Hatch and Lee offer countermeasures for both.

You￯﾿ﾽll learn how to prevent insecure program execution, buffer overflows, race conditions, and symlink attacks; how to validate user input; and how to create temporary files securely. There are updated chapters on email and FTP security; web servers and dynamic content; and denial-of-service attacks.

There￯﾿ﾽs also an entirely new three-chapter section on what crackers do after they￯﾿ﾽve broken in. You￯﾿ﾽll learn how they cover their tracks -- from removing log entries through replacing your binaries with versions that don￯﾿ﾽt betray their presence. There￯﾿ﾽs a detailed chapter on backdoors, and another on kernel changes and other advanced methods for hiding one￯﾿ﾽs activities. If you￯﾿ﾽre running Linux for anything that matters, this book￯﾿ﾽs a must. Bill Camarda

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks for Dummies, Second Edition.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Tighten holes and maintain security on your Linux system! From the publisher of the international best-seller, Hacking Exposed: Network Security Secrets & Solutions, comes this must-have security handbook for anyone running Linux. This up-to-date edition shows you how to think like a Linux hacker in order to beat the Linux hacker. You'll get detailed information on Linux-specific hacks, both internal and external, and how to stop them.

SYNOPSIS

"Years of collective hands-on expertise for those who want to actually understand the Linux threats and countermeasures. Excellent!" —Dave Wreski, CEO, Guardian Digital and co-author of Linux Security HOTWO

Secure your Linux network by thinking like an attacker

Evolving Web technology and new software releases make online security more challenging than ever. The number of hackers—both sophisticated crackers and script-kiddies—is growing constantly, and it's just a matter of time before your network becomes a target. Hacking Linux Exposed, Second Edition shows you, step-by-step, how to proactively defend against the latest Linux-specific attacks by getting inside the mind of today's most devious hackers. You'll learn how intruders gather information, specify targets, exploit weak spots, and gain control—usually while remaining undetected. Read case studies about both common and little-known break-ins, tips on how and why they occurred, and detailed countermeasures against these attacks. If you're a Linux professional who's serious about security, this is the one book you can't afford to be without.