Maximum Linux Security: A Hacker's Guide to Protecting Your Linux Server and Workstation [Paperback]

Anonymous (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0672316706 | ISBN-13: 978-0672316708 | Publication Date: July 1999

Maximum Linux Security: A Hacker's Guide to Protecting Your Linux Server and Workstation is designed for system administrators, managers, or Linux users who wish to protect their Linux servers and workstations from unauthorized intrusions and other external threats to their systems' integrity. Written by an experienced hacker--someone who knows which systems are vulnerable and how crackers get into them--this unique guide to Linux security identifies existing and potential security holes and faults, and then describes how to go about fixing them.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Linux machines serve scores of purposes on networks, but their very integration with networked environments means they're constantly exposed to attack. Maximum Linux Security: A Hacker's Guide to Protecting Your Linux Server and Network provides a comprehensive picture of Linux's strengths and weaknesses when it comes to protecting your systems from bad guys. The author offers explicit advice (e.g., replace sendmail with Qmail) and general recommendations (e.g., be on the lookout for unused services and disable them). In case you're wondering which Anonymous this is, he's the same guy who wrote the very highly regarded Maximum Security.

In Maximum Linux Security, readers become familiar with scores of offensive and defensive weapons, including Crack, Tripwire, linux_sniffer, mendax, and many more. For each program, the author documents the required infrastructure (such as C or Perl), the required permissions, and a URL from which the program can be downloaded. Most valuably, he walks you through the use of each program (using Red Hat Linux 5.1 and Caldera OpenLinux 1.3 on his test bed machines). Readers can follow along as the author performs various hacks, including an IP spoofing attack. He lists hundreds of hacking tools in an appendix, and includes a lot of software (Linux security products, code examples, technical documents, system logs, and utilities) on the companion CD-ROM. --David Wall

Topics covered: Sniffers, scanners, firewalls, auditing tools, intrusion detectors, and denial-of-service software.

From the Back Cover

Maximum Linux Security: A Hacker's Guide to Protecting Your Linux Server and Workstation is designed for system administrators, managers, or Linux users who wish to protect their Linux servers and workstations from unauthorized intrusions and other external threats to their systems' integrity. Written by an experienced hacker--someone who knows which systems are vulnerable and how crackers get into them--this unique guide to Linux security identifies existing and potential security holes and faults, and then describes how to go about fixing them.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 743 pages
• Publisher: SAMS PUBLISHING (July 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0672316706
• ISBN-13: 978-0672316708
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,304,903 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good overall, March 24, 2000

By 

R. M. Delckum (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Maximum Linux Security: A Hacker's Guide to Protecting Your Linux Server and Workstation (Paperback)

I'm still finishing up this book, but have found it to be a good, general introduction to Linux security. It does a good job of showing examples, as well as showing how to secure your system step by step. I only have two minor complaints, both of which aren't specific to this book. First, several of the urls that the author points to no longer exist. Instead of pointing to web pages, which have a very limited lifespan, it might have been better to put the text/pages in question on the CD. Second, some of the software versions listed in the book are out of date. For example, I have SSH2 installed, but the book only mentions SSH. But again, this is a common problem with computer books in general. Overall, I found it to be a good, thorough introduction to Linux security as well as a practical guide to securing a Linux system. I have 4 machines running Red Hat and have followed most of the suggestions in this book for trying to secure them.

And for Linux folks, I'd also recommend the book Linux Firewalls, by Robert Ziegler, if you want to get deeper into securing your system/network.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Are you sure Sams.net is responsible for this?, June 7, 2000

By 

Jeffrey Few (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Maximum Linux Security: A Hacker's Guide to Protecting Your Linux Server and Workstation (Paperback)

I haven't read any books on computer security before this one, so I can't say whether or not this is the authoritative title on the subject of Linux security. I will say that I have read quite a few books on Linux in general (Linux in a Nutshell, Running Linux, etc.) and this is the best Linux book I have read so far. It taught me more about Linux system administration than any website, man page, or other book I've looked at, despite its focus on security.

Aside from the excellent pointers it gave on properly administering your Linux workstation or server, it was a very fun, informative read.

Mr. Anonymous is a lively technical writer, and downright funny to boot. On biometric access controls, he/she writes: "I hope you're not using your computers for illegal activity. But if you are, you may want to avoid using biometric access controls, or at least not keep logs. Nothing will kill a good clean hack like incontrovertible logs."

In short, buy this if you want to get up to speed on Linux system administration in a hurry and you're already comfortable with *nix.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply The Best, January 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Maximum Linux Security: A Hacker's Guide to Protecting Your Linux Server and Workstation (Paperback)

I have spent the last six months researching Linux security and related books to apply some of the techniques on my Linux box. This was by far the most complete of anything I have found. It is well worth the price to find all this information in one complete selection. Hats off to the author it is well worth it