This book is a technical guide to hardening and securing Linux hosts and some of the common applications used on Linux hosts. It provides information on how to harden the base Linux operating system, including firewalling and securing connections to your hosts. It also looks at hardening and securing some of the applications commonly run on Linux hosts, such as e-mail, IMAP/POP, FTP, and DNS.

No single book on security, even a book on the security of a single operating system, will ever answer all the security questions or address all the possible threats. This book is about providing risk mitigation and minimization. I have set out to identify risks associated with
running Linux and some of the applications that run on Linux hosts. I have then provided technical solutions—backed by frequent examples, code, and commands—that minimize, mitigate, or in some circumstances negate those risks. The configurations and examples I provide are designed to ensure your Linux hosts are hardened against attack while not limiting the functionality available to your users.

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