Linux Security Week - March 17th 2003

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

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|  LinuxSecurity.com                            Weekly Newsletter     |
|  March 17th, 2003                             Volume 4, Number 11n  |
|                                                                     |
|  Editorial Team:  Dave Wreski             dave () linuxsecurity com    |
|                   Benjamin Thomas         ben () linuxsecurity com     |
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Thank you for reading the LinuxSecurity.com weekly security newsletter.
The purpose of this document is to provide our readers with a quick
summary of each week's most relevant Linux security headlines.

This week, perhaps the most interesting articles include "Using Postfix
for Secure SMTP Gateways," "Cryptographic Filesystems: Design and
Implementation," "Linux Security Modules: General Security Support for the
Linux," and "A practical approach for defeating Nmap OS-Fingerprinting."


LINUX ADVISORY WATCH:
This week advisories were released for zlib, sendmail, qpopper, file,
snort, mysqlcc, netscape-flash, ethereal, usermode, tcpdump, and lprold.
The distributors include Caldera, Debian, Guardian Digital's EnGarde
Secure Linux, Gentoo, Mandrake, NetBSD, Red Hat, and SuSE.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/forums_article-6896.html

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http://www.linuxsecurity.com/feature_stories/feature_story-138.html


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| Host Security News: | <<-----[ Articles This Week ]-------------
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* Samba 2.2.8 Available, Fixes Serious Security Vulnerability
March 15th, 2003

This release provides an important security fix outlined in the release
notes that follow. This is the latest stable release of Samba and the
version that all production Samba servers should be running for all
current bug-fixes.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/server_security_article-6902.html


* Using Postfix for Secure SMTP Gateways
March 13th, 2003

Wietse Venema, intrepid developer of TCP wrappers and co-creator of SATAN,
has come through for us again: his program, postfix, provides an
alternative to sendmail that is simpler in design, more modular, easier to
configure and less work to administer.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/server_security_article-6895.html


* Snort survives first vulnerability
March 13th, 2003

Snort, the immensely popular open-source intrusion-detection system, is no
longer confined to cult status. Since going commercial in 2001 with the
formation of Columbia, Md.-based Sourcefire Inc., Snort has extended its
reach into enterprises and deep into the federal government.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/forums_article-6894.html


* Manage Passwords Safely--and Simply
March 13th, 2003

You're doing a little Web browsing at work when you come upon
Widgetsnmore.com, a site that looks vaguely familiar. Suddenly, you see
it: the multipurpose electronic gadget polisher you've coveted for
weeks--and it's half price until 5 o'clock today! You click on the image
to order it, and...uh-oh. The site asks for your password. What do you do?

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/host_security_article-6889.html


* Cryptographic Filesystems: Design and Implementation
March 11th, 2003

As security becomes a greater focus in networks, every aspect of online
information needs a level of protection from the network-level use of
firewalls and IDS to the host-level use of IDS. However, an additional
level of security has recently come to the forefront of security -
cryptographic filesystems.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/cryptography_article-6880.html


* Buffer Overflow Attacks and Their Countermeasures
March 10th, 2003

Buffer overflow problems always have been associated with security
vulnerabilities. In the past, lots of security breaches have occurred due
to buffer overflow. This article attempts to explain what buffer overflow
is, how it can be exploited and what countermeasures can be taken to avoid
it.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/server_security_article-6872.html


* Linux Security Modules: General Security Support for the Linux
Kernel
March 10th, 2003

The access control mechanisms of existing mainstream operating systems are
inadequate to provide strong system security. Enhanced access control
mechanisms have failed to win acceptance into mainstream operating systems
due in part to a lack of consensus within the security community on the
right solution.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/general_article-6871.html


* Securing Linux
March 10th, 2003

Here we go again. I decided to write another article concerning some
overall security aspects of installing and running linux. To keep it short
and simple, here are some good pointers to enhancing your system's
security.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/general_article-6870.html



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| Network Security News: |
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* SSH Tunneling part 3 - Where does the crypto end?
March 16th, 2003

The book starts with a chapter dedicated to security basics. The author
introduces general security principles and helps you realize why firewalls
exist. Yeo naturally notes that a firewall is not the only method of
defense you should use.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/documentation_article-6904.html


* Wireless LAN Analyzers: The Ultimate Hacking Tools?
March 14th, 2003

In a Wireless LAN (WLAN), things are different. Its physical medium is the
electromagnetic spectrum, which exists everywhere and respects few
boundaries. Wi-Fi is now available at two different frequencies-IEEE
802.11b at 2.4GHz and IEEE 802.11a at 5GHz-and both can suffer
interference from neighboring networks and other sources.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/network_security_article-6900.html


* Personal Firewalls for Administrators and Remote Users
March 13th, 2003

The book starts with a chapter dedicated to security basics. The author
introduces general security principles and helps you realize why firewalls
exist. Yeo naturally notes that a firewall is not the only method of
defense you should use.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/documentation_article-6888.html


* Open Source Honeypots, Part Two: Deploying Honeyd in the Wild
March 13th, 2003

This is the second part of a three-part series looking at Honeyd, an open
source solution that is excellent for detecting attacks and unauthorized
activity. In the first paper, we introduced honeypots and discussed what
they are, their value, and the different types of honeypots. We then went
into detail about the Honeyd,.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/intrusion_detection_article-6892.html


* Study Exposes WLAN Security Risks
March 13th, 2003

As wireless networks continue to gain acceptance and become integral to
corporate computing environments, IT departments continue to ignore the
myriad security problems inherent to wireless LANs, according to a new
study by RSA Security Inc.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/network_security_article-6890.html


* IP Spoofing: An Introduction
March 11th, 2003

Criminals have long employed the tactic of masking their true identity,
from disguises to aliases to caller-id blocking. It should come as no
surprise then, that criminals who conduct their nefarious activities on
networks and computers should employ such techniques.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/network_security_article-6877.html


* A practical approach for defeating Nmap OS-Fingerprinting
March 11th, 2003

Remote OS Fingerprinting is becoming more and more important, not only for
security pen-testers, but for the black-hat. Just because Nmap is getting
popularity as the tool for guessing which OS is running in a remote
system, some security tools have been developed to fake Nmap in its OS
Fingerprinting purpose.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/intrusion_detection_article-6882.html


* Virtual Private Networks
March 10th, 2003

The concept of the Virtual Private Networks (VPN) is very simple. Take the
worlds largest network, the Internet, and use encryption to pass traffic
between two or more locations securely, making it a private network.
However until recently, the application of this simple concept has been
very complex and not cost effective.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/network_security_article-6873.html



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| General News:          |
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* Irish Honeynet slammed by attacks
March 16th, 2003

The Irish Honeynet enticed nearly 600 attacks in January, while the
rampant Slammer worm even caused it to be brought down for a day during
the month.  The decoy computer network, which was established to study
cyber attackers, recorded 597 attacks during January.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/intrusion_detection_article-6903.html


* 'Honest, We're the Good Guys'
March 14th, 2003

American businesses feel a little like a rope that's being used in a tug
of war between privacy and patriotism. Their customers want the personal
information that businesses collect to be kept private, but the government
wants access to some of that data for use in various homeland security
plans.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/privacy_article-6898.html


* Is a Sendmail worm likely?
March 12th, 2003

A serious buffer overflow vulnerability announced last week in Sendmail is
ripe to be exploited by targeted attacks, but it is also possible for a
worm writer to write malicious code that exploits the security hole. No
one can say whether a worm writer will create malware that targets the
Sendmail flaw, but it is possible, experts said.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/server_security_article-6886.html

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