Re: Securing Linux based public access terminals

[Michael Rice <michael () riceclan org>]

I wouldn't run a window manager at all, I probably would use linux.

1. have no valid logins on the box (don't put passwords on it for
someone to get to).  
2. do put a grub or lilo password and a bios password on them.
3. set up bios to boot from HD only.
4. have no software loaded that doesn't pertain to web browsing -- you
will have to question whether to load flash and java.
5. start X as the user 'nobody' via a startup script with something
like 'startx mozilla'.  You may want to tweak this a bit so that 
the browser can have a config and cache directory.
6. configure iptables on the box to only allow browsing and only to
where you want (i.e. point it at your proxy server, or disallow
your intranet).
7. build an image and set the boxes up to re-deploy from a server
based image on reboot.  Then you can just reboot if something happens
to one and it will get a fresh image.  You may consider whether to just
have them reboot nightly anyway.  One way I've seen this done is to have
two images, one small linux install to pull the image and deploy it. 
You might consider toms root/boot CDs or customize your
own.  In this case you'd have to have CD drives and the bios to allow
booting from CDs.  On the up side this media could be made immutable.
8. set up a syslog server and watch the logs with something like
logwatch or swatch to alert you when anything unexpected happens.
9. put them on a shared media (hub) or a smart switch with port
forwarding and snort/ntop the traffic.



On Fri, 2004-07-16 at 13:15, Ant wrote:
> Give the Blackbox window manager a try. Not sure about non
> interventive logins though.
>
> On Thu, 15 Jul 2004 12:48:33 +0100, Andrew Shore
> <andrew.shore () holistecs com> wrote:
> > Hi
> >
> > I have a project where I need to give access to the internet to groups
> > of users who do not work for the company running the workstations.
> > Hence, the company do not want the users to access any other part of the
> > network. For reasons too complicated to go into here I can't hive this
> > portion of the network off onto a DMZ or even a secure vlan.
> >
> > What I would like to is run a Linux workstation (RedHat probably 9 even
> > though it's out of support) but when the user logs into the windows
> > session all they get is the browser. No menus no right click on the desk
> > top just a basic single application "dumb terminal". I've seen this done
> > before but it was too well secured for me to see how it was done! Also
> > I'd like to the workstation to log straight in as a local user with out
> > user intervention.
> >
> > Any ideas how I can achieve this or perhaps secure it in another way, I
> > remember with windows 3.x you could change the windows manager settings
> > in win.ini and it did exactly what I want. I just really don't want to
> > use Windows 3.1 ;)
> >
> > TIA
> >
> > Andy
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Ethical Hacking at the InfoSec Institute. Mention this ad and get $545 off
> > any course! All of our class sizes are guaranteed to be 10 students or less
> > to facilitate one-on-one interaction with one of our expert instructors.
> > Attend a course taught by an expert instructor with years of in-the-field
> > pen testing experience in our state of the art hacking lab. Master the skills
> > of an Ethical Hacker to better assess the security of your organization.
> > Visit us at:
> > http://www.infosecinstitute.com/courses/ethical_hacking_training.html
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Ethical Hacking at the InfoSec Institute. Mention this ad and get $545 off 
> any course! All of our class sizes are guaranteed to be 10 students or less 
> to facilitate one-on-one interaction with one of our expert instructors. 
> Attend a course taught by an expert instructor with years of in-the-field 
> pen testing experience in our state of the art hacking lab. Master the skills 
> of an Ethical Hacker to better assess the security of your organization. 
> Visit us at: 
> http://www.infosecinstitute.com/courses/ethical_hacking_training.html
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- 
Michael Rice <michael () riceclan org>


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ethical Hacking at the InfoSec Institute. Mention this ad and get $545 off 
any course! All of our class sizes are guaranteed to be 10 students or less 
to facilitate one-on-one interaction with one of our expert instructors. 
Attend a course taught by an expert instructor with years of in-the-field 
pen testing experience in our state of the art hacking lab. Master the skills 
of an Ethical Hacker to better assess the security of your organization. 
Visit us at: 
http://www.infosecinstitute.com/courses/ethical_hacking_training.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------------