Questions tagged [hardening]
the process of tightening security on a system.
248
questions
2
votes
2answers
74 views
Does removing features from a library increase or reduce security risks?
Software libraries targetting resource constrained environments like embedded systems use conditional compilation to allow consumers to shave space and thus increase performance by removing unused ...
0
votes
0answers
33 views
Secure partitioning: does LVM affect hardening guidelines?
this is the second of a series of questions on hardening Linux servers at the filesystem level. The first is here. The same scenario applies; I copy it here for convenience:
At work I'm hardening an ...
0
votes
0answers
34 views
Secure mount options in Ubuntu CIS benchmarks too narrow?
this is the first of a series of questions on hardening Linux servers at the filesystem level.
At work I'm hardening an Ubuntu 18.04 Server following the CIS benchmark 2.0.1. Instead of just running ...
0
votes
1answer
92 views
How to safely reinstall Windows in Thailand - avoiding BadUSB/SSD
I have newly bought HP Pavilion laptop, which i am planning to nuke and reinstall.
I really do not like the bloatware as it might posses a security risk.
However, in Thailand, i do not trust the ...
0
votes
0answers
17 views
Newly bought HP Pavilion laptop - bloatware - security risks [duplicate]
I’ve recently bought a new HP Pavilion laptop, it came with pre-installed software (bloatware) such as various games and other useless stuff.
When setting up the laptop, i was connected to AIS, which ...
1
vote
1answer
79 views
IIS FTPS Best Practise
I have the task to place an FTP server in the company DMZ for our partners to store sensitive data that can not be sent by mail.
I have chosen the IIS FTPS. I will generate a self-signed certificate ...
0
votes
1answer
60 views
Restrict privileged users from accessing certain directories on Linux servers with Grsecurity?
My question is similar to these:
Protect sensitive data from sysadmin prying eyes
Restrict access to a specific directory on Linux
From those, I understand that SELinux could accomplish my goal. ...
0
votes
1answer
172 views
How to make it harder for a VPS provider to access my data?
I know it is impossible to completely prevent a host from accessing the data of a virtual machine (as noted here, here and here), but I think there is value in making it harder to do so. Bare metal ...
2
votes
1answer
91 views
Can a VPN provider or actors within its infrastructure access open ports on the client machine?
From my understanding of a VPN, it essentially creates a network between the two 'machines'. So if I have open ports (e.g. HTTP, SSH) on my client machine, those can be accessed by the VPN provider or ...
1
vote
0answers
44 views
Tightly locking down a FreeBSD jail
Suppose one is running a single internet-facing daemon, as a service in a FreeBSD jail, and expects targeted hostile attacks targeting open WAN ports and services.
Like many services, the service and ...
2
votes
0answers
64 views
Implications of adding work account to an android device
Once there's a primary Google account registered on the device and then another work account is added in order to access G Suite of the work place, what are the G Suite administrators are able to ...
1
vote
2answers
184 views
How to protect external hard drive from tampering?
I am looking to buy an external 1TB hard drive to store sensitive information on. External hard drives aren't (physically) small, and it may have to be left unattended at times.
What can I do to ...
1
vote
2answers
340 views
Hardening VM for Malware Analysis
I'm starting out in Malware Research / Malware Analysis. I am reading a book called "Practical Guide to Malware Analysis," which touches this in the 2nd chapter, before approaching Dynamical Analysis (...
1
vote
0answers
91 views
How should you configure PowerShell logs permissions?
I'm currently trying to figure out the best way to configure Windows PowerShell logging, so that
it is secure (Attackers cannot gain sensitive data out of it)
it helps in DFIR (digital forensic and ...
0
votes
1answer
239 views
For security purposes, can I use vpn with ufw to allow traffic only from the vpn on ubuntu?
Is this possible? If not through ufw then some other software or iptables? How should I set up the ip tables?
Assuming my public ip is known (and I don't want to change it), would it provide complete ...
0
votes
1answer
111 views
Hardening against Nmap and other network scanners
It is possible to make Server respond with irrelevant data if it is scanned with Nmap? If yes, are there any examples of such SW?
0
votes
0answers
97 views
How to enable custom Lynis plugins
I am trying to develop a custom plugin for Lynis and followed the instructions here:
I created a custom plugin from the plugin template (custom_plugin.template)
I provided a test name and registered ...
1
vote
1answer
55 views
RHEL7 SSGv0.1 2.2.3 Unauthorized SUID/GUID executables
We are upgrading to RHEL 7.6. My Nessus scanner is giving me the following message:
2.2.3.c-d Mandatory Review Required: Find unauthorized SUID/GUID System Executables
RHEL7 SSGv0.1 2.2.3 Unauthorized ...
1
vote
1answer
157 views
Why is autofs insecure?
I am hardening CentOS/RHEL 7.6. The hardening documents recommend disabling the automounter, "unless it is necessary."
Why is autofs such a problem?
One of the benefits of networking is a shared file ...
1
vote
1answer
515 views
Can I use a virtual machine to connect to a public WIFI to use Internet by totally isolating the host from it?
I want to use my laptop to connect to a public WiFi in a library but...
I have strong security in my Windows host machine (comodo firewall using a public network settings and rules, protocols ...
5
votes
2answers
300 views
What are some examples of viruses/exploits with benevolent purposes?
A comment from another user had me thinking. What are some well-known (or perhaps not quite so) examples of in-the-wild "malicious" software that do nothing actually malicious, but instead takes ...
1
vote
1answer
92 views
Steps to Harden Ancient Gaming Server
I am somewhat administering an old Windows Server 2008 server that is used to host a older Video Game.
It's in such a state that it has tons of custom code on it that run the server and hasn't really ...
2
votes
1answer
350 views
Is zeroing out values on the stack and arguments overkill?
I generally zero out memory the moment it's served its usefulness, but only with heap-allocated chunks. Is it a sin (or overkill) to do the same with arguments and stack values? Thanks in advance.
...
0
votes
0answers
48 views
How to protect certain macOS user directory from unauthorized access?
I have several directories on my Mac, two most popular examples are:
~/.aws
~/.ssh
They can be read by any script file or third-party app in system.
I do not see a way to protect them in macOS (...
2
votes
1answer
1k views
CIS hardening of alpine based docker container
I've got a service running inside a docker container. I've built my own image based on nginx:stable-alpine docker image.
I am trying to ascertain whether the concept of CIS hardening applies to the ...
1
vote
1answer
281 views
Is it a security risk to run master process of nginx as root?
I'm using nginx (Port 8888) as a reverse proxy for my web server running over 8080. In the traditional way, nginx master process runs as root and spawns the child processes with user www-data. Is it ...
2
votes
1answer
101 views
Shareable encrypted data in a web application
This is a follow up on my previous question about Storing sensitive, sharable data for a company where several of the employees have access to the server.
This solution has worked well for our ...
1
vote
1answer
166 views
WIN 10 hardening: Importance of “Allow system to be shut down without having to log on” policy
I am enforcing a hardening policy on my organization's work stations.
One of the policies I removed, under Shutdown, is called "Allow system to be shut own without having to log on".
Users started to ...
1
vote
2answers
61 views
How to protect your anti virus program or logging agent?
its a very simple question but might not be too trivial. Imagine an attacker has access to your device and gained SYSTEM privilege. Your company has installed a logging agent on your device to capture ...
0
votes
2answers
223 views
How to hide device files on linux?
I want to hide /dev files on Linux because some files can be dumped and used for reverse engineering/attack purposes.
My primary goal is to avoid users able to see those files from a shell: lurking ...
6
votes
2answers
3k views
Where to find the security hardened docker images
Is there any service that provides certified, security hardened Docker images for common platforms like Python, PHP, Node, Java, etc. with 0 major/critical CVEs.
Currently, we are using the ones from ...
0
votes
1answer
57 views
How to restrict plugins/tools like Netcraft and Builtwith to detect server side technologies?
My organization wants to restrict all the plugins/tools like Netcraft and Builtwith to detect all the server side technologies for security reason like platform, operating system name and version, web ...
0
votes
2answers
185 views
Best Source of Security Configuration Guidance
Over the years I have used a number of different sources of security configuration guidance for a spectrum of systems including for example:
https://www.cisecurity.org/cis-benchmarks/
https://www....
1
vote
0answers
163 views
Hardening evaluation of shared objects files
In order to evaluate if security mechanisms are applied on binary files during compilation I usually use the checksec tool.
My question is: if I want to check an .so file, which checksec's fields ...
1
vote
2answers
157 views
How to mitigate the risks of using new, third party imported electronic accessories?
As someone who is naturally good at recognizing risk and who are striving to maintain a wholistic view on security, I’m wondering how to evaluate and reduce the risks of hardware accessories (I.e. ...
13
votes
2answers
909 views
Securing a Laptop from a Foreign Intelligence Agency
What would be the best practices for securing a single-purpose Windows laptop against a determined foreign intelligence agency from tampering with data on the machine? The machine would be used ...
2
votes
1answer
293 views
the state of ASLR, PIE, SSP on Debian in 2018?
As far as I remember,
most Debian Wheezy packages were not compiled with those useful security flags (ASLR, PIE, SSP, and more).
Did the situation improve with Debian Squeeze or the upcoming Debian ...
0
votes
1answer
372 views
Is it ok to delete SSH configuration files? [closed]
From what I read, SSH is mainly used for remotely accessing a machine. If I don't want anyone remotely accessing my machine, nor myself included, is it ok to delete these configuration files from my ...
5
votes
1answer
14k views
Filter TLS in Wireshark or other monitoring tool
As part of the new best practices in hardening server communications I need to deny TLS 1.0 on the web server, before doing so I wish to identify the amount of clients whom connect with this level of ...
1
vote
3answers
220 views
When hardening a LINUX system what command line tools would you remove first in order to make an attackers life really difficult? [closed]
When hardening a LINUX system what command line tools would you remove first in order to make an attackers life really difficult?
1
vote
1answer
60 views
Remove sync user to harden the system
I read a book about linux hardening (Hardening Linux by James Turnbull, 2005). The book suggests to remove the sync user. If I remove the sync user I am not able to call commands like ls and shutdown, ...
2
votes
1answer
2k views
How can I set a password for single user mode?
During a Lynis audit I found this on a system that uses Fedora 28:
Checking Linux single user mode authentication WARNING
And under results I got:
No password set for single mode [AUTH-...
3
votes
1answer
261 views
protection from Backdoor hacks from disgruntled developer/ employee
I created a ecommerce site with a developer. He completed almost all his work but in the end we had some financial disagreements so our partnership ended in a bitter dispute. That developer threatened ...
0
votes
1answer
848 views
Modify Win OS banner to avoid OS detection
I would like to modify Win OS banner to defeat OS detection from scanning tools like Nmap for example. Although, I know that Nmap does not take into account just the banner to do OS detection.
5
votes
2answers
1k views
securing Ubuntu bootloader using TPM
I am currently working with Ubuntu 16.04 , with an Intel CPU that supports TPM2 module.
I am trying to harden my boot-loader, i tried using trustedgrub2 fork that supports TPM2 , i understand that ...
0
votes
0answers
49 views
Electron app generating one-time access codes vs server generated codes
I'm designing a kiosk to use one-time SMS codes as a method of authentication. The method I'm using to generate codes happens inside of an Electron application running on a locked down kiosk, hardened ...
1
vote
1answer
751 views
what are the disadvantages of running SSH daemon without root?
Is there any risk in running ssh daemon with no root privilege using this method: how-can-i-make-this-daemon-init-run-as-a-non-root-user?
Debian Developer's Best Practices for OS Security says the ...
27
votes
4answers
10k views
What are the toughest SSH daemon settings in terms of encryption, handshake, or other cryptographic settings? [duplicate]
I work heavily with SSH and SFTP, to be specific between two machines, both of which have their SSH port open on a public IP address.
What are the toughest SSH daemon settings in terms of encryption, ...
3
votes
1answer
222 views
How to set basic defense on Nginx-CMS?
As an Information Security amateur I did all in my might to protect my Ubuntu-Nginx-CMS (WordPress) environment from BFAs, MITMs, and database injections.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:certbot/certbot -...
0
votes
2answers
654 views
How to secure a fresh Ubuntu 16.04 install [closed]
I have a service that's spinning up fresh Ubuntu 16.04 instances onto a VPS (on behalf of users) and would really like to do what I can in terms of putting good privacy and security practices in by ...
