Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE SERVER 10 - INSTALLATION AND ADMINISTRATION 04-08-2006 Installation Manual page 899

www.novell.com/linux/security/securitysupport.html. The list
suse-security-announce@suse.de
garding updated packages and includes members of SUSE's security team among its
active contributors.
The mailing list
suse-security@suse.de
issues of interest. Subscribe to it on the same Web page.
bugtraq@securityfocus.com
worldwide. Reading this list, which receives between 15 and 20 postings per day, is
recommended. More information can be found at
.com.
The following is a list of rules you may find useful in dealing with basic security con-
cerns:
• According to the rule of using the most restrictive set of permissions possible for
every job, avoid doing your regular jobs as root. This reduces the risk of getting
a cuckoo egg or a virus and protects you from your own mistakes.
• If possible, always try to use encrypted connections to work on a remote machine.
Using ssh (secure shell) to replace telnet, ftp, rsh, and rlogin should be
standard practice.
• Avoid using authentication methods based on IP addresses alone.
• Try to keep the most important network-related packages up-to-date and subscribe
to the corresponding mailing lists to receive announcements on new versions of
such programs (bind, sendmail, ssh, etc.). The same should apply to software rele-
vant to local security.
• Change the /etc/permissions file to optimize the permissions of files crucial
to your system's security. If you remove the setuid bit from a program, it might
well be that it cannot do its job anymore in the intended way. On the other hand,
consider that, in most cases, the program will also have ceased to be a potential
security risk. You might take a similar approach with world-writable directories
and files.
• Disable any network services you do not absolutely require for your server to work
properly. This makes your system safer. Open ports, with the socket state LISTEN,
can be found with the program netstat. As for the options, it is recommended to
is a first-hand source of information re-
is a good place to discuss any security
is one of the best-known security mailing lists
http://www.securityfocus
Security and Confidentiality 899