Linux Hardening in Hostile Networks

Protect Linux systems against modern threats with practical, real-world security techniques.

Linux Hardening in Hostile Networks equips system administrators, DevOps engineers, security professionals, and IT teams with the knowledge to secure workstations, servers, networks, and critical services in increasingly hostile online environments. From fundamental hardening practices to advanced defensive strategies, this guide explains how to reduce attack surfaces, secure Internet-facing infrastructure, and respond effectively when incidents occur.

Covering everything from authentication and workstation security to web servers, email, DNS, databases, Tor, and TLS, this edition breaks down complex security concepts into clear, actionable steps. Each chapter progresses from essential protections suitable for any Linux environment through to advanced techniques designed to defend against sophisticated attackers. Readers will learn not only how to implement security controls, but also when they are appropriate, what risks they mitigate, and their practical limitations. Apply core security techniques including 2FA and strong passwords Protect admin workstations via lock screens, disk encryption, BIOS passwords, and other methods Use the security-focused Tails distribution as a quick path to a hardened workstation Compartmentalise workstation tasks into VMs with varying levels of trust Harden servers with SSH, use apparmor and sudo to limit the damage attackers can do, and set up remote syslog servers to track their actions Establish secure VPNs with OpenVPN, and leverage SSH to tunnel traffic when VPNs can't be used Configure a software load balancer to terminate SSL/TLS connections and initiate new ones downstream Set up standalone Tor services and hidden Tor services and relays Secure Apache and Nginx web servers, and take full advantage of HTTPS Perform advanced web server hardening with HTTPS forward secrecy and ModSecurity web application firewalls Strengthen email security with SMTP relay authentication, SMTPS, SPF records, DKIM, and DMARC Harden DNS servers, deter their use in DDoS attacks, and fully implement DNSSEC Systematically protect databases via network access control, TLS traffic encryption, and encrypted data storage Respond to a compromised server, collect evidence, and prevent future attacks