Linux Security Week - July 30th, 2001

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

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|  LinuxSecurity.com                            Weekly Newsletter     |
|  July 30th, 2001                            Volume 2, Number 30n    |
|                                                                     |
|  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, the most interesting articles include "Building a Secure User
Environment with SSH ChRootGroups," "Understanding RSA/DSA
authentication," and "OpenSSH key management, Part 1."  Also this week, a
bill in the House is causing law officials "to be more forthright" and
submit detailed reports on the usage of the Carnivore system. More
information about this is available in the general section of this
newsletter.

This week, advisories were released for sugid-exec, telnet, ssh, procmail,
squid, sendmsg, xil, imp, elm, and phplib.  The vendors include Calera,
Conectiva, FreeBSD, Mandrake, NetBSD, Red Hat, SuSE, Trustix

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/forums_article-3411.html


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Linux engineered from the ground-up to provide organizations with the
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conduct e-business on the Web. It can be used as a Web, DNS, e-mail,
database, e-commerce, and general Internet server where security is a
primary concern.  
 
--> Download: http://www.engardelinux.org/download.html 


HTML Version:
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/vuln-newsletter.html
   
 
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| Host Security News: | <<-----[ Articles This Week ]-------------
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* Incident Response -- Investigating Computer Crime
July 26th, 2001

"I particularly recommend the book for less advanced admins and those
who don't have a lot of hands-on experience. If you've never been
through an "incident," this is a very good book to have. If you've
been through one or two, you might find a few things you've done
wrong (or right) and some extra ways to prepare for the next time."

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/documentation_article-3403.html


* Installation of a Secure Web Server
July 26th, 2001

Web servers are the most exposed servers on the Internet. In order
for clients/ target groups to be able to access the information
provided, web servers must be accessible from any point on the
Internet. In contrast to other public services like DNS and FTP, the
Web is especially tempting for "Crackers": a succesful "hack" of a
system can be visualized by changing the appearance of the home page
to increase awareness of the hacker's presence. 

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/server_security_article-3404.html


* Building a Secure User Environment with SSH ChRootGroups
July 23rd, 2001

Chroot alters the effective root directory of a user or process to
one specified by the root user. Thus far, chroot has not been widely
used for creating secure user environments; the difficulties involved
with creating a functional cage are an obstacle that still needs to
be overcome. This article will provide an overview of SSH
ChRootGroups feature; which provides a quick and easy way for
administrators to lock users inside a chrooted cage. 

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/host_security_article-3386.html




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| Network Security News: |
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* Commenting a firewall
July 28th, 2001

Hopefully, this article will help you understand the principle of
building a  custom firewall. The firwall used for this article is
pretty good, and you can  use it, since you can adjust it to your
needs as it is well commented. It is  ideal for your home network.
Just copy it, chmod it and off you go.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/firewalls_article-3419.html



* Know Your Enemy: Statistics
July 25th, 2001

Over the past several years, the Honeynet Project has been collecting
and archiving information on blackhat activity. We have attempted, to
the best of our ability, to log and capture every probe, attack, and
exploit made against our Honeynet.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/intrusion_detection_article-3396.html



* Network Sniffers
July 25th, 2001

Sniffers are tools, also known as network analyzers, used for
monitoring network traffic. As such, if used by authorized personnel,
can prove to be of a great value. But, on the other hand, sniffers
represent significant threat to your network, and are very hard to
detect. 

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/network_security_article-3400.html





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| Cryptography News:     |
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* OpenSSH key management, Part 1
July 26th, 2001

In this series, you'll learn how RSA and DSA authentication work, and
see how to set up passwordless authentication the right way. In the
first article of the series, Daniel Robbins focuses on introducing
the RSA and DSA authentication protocols and showing you how to get
them working over the network. 

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/cryptography_article-3405.html


* Understanding RSA/DSA authentication
July 26th, 2001

In this series, you'll learn how RSA and DSA authentication work, and
see how to set up passwordless authentication the right way. In the
first article of the series, Daniel Robbins  focuses on introducing
the RSA and DSA authentication protocols and showing you how to  get
them working over the network.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/cryptography_article-3408.html




+------------------------+
| General Security News: |
+------------------------+
 
 * Hacking Vegas at Black Hat and DEF CON: One Geek's Experience
July 28th, 2001

DEF CON, which began as a relatively small get-together for members
of the IS underground, has grown in recent years to become the
world's largest and most publicized annual gathering of the diverse
groups that comprise Information Systems Security. 

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/hackscracks_article-3417.html


* IT managers still overestimate security
July 27th, 2001

Only two out of 50 firewalls at a leading Swiss bank were configured
correctly -- just one  instance of security that is all that it
should be.   Network security is being overestimated by IT managers
because they are failing to manage protective  software properly,
according to a security expert.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/general_article-3415.html


* 'Jam Echelon Day' protest planned
July 27th, 2001

Internet activists are planning an international day of protest on
Oct. 21 in an effort to  jam Echelon, the super-secret global
surveillance system. But privacy experts warn the protest  is
unlikely to succeed. Organizers of the cyber-event are encouraging
the Internet  community to send as many e-mail messages as possible,
containing  certain "trigger words" that the Echelon system is
believed to pick up on.  

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/projects_article-3416.html


* House pulls Carnivore into the light
July 24th, 2001

A bill requiring federal law-enforcement officials to be more
forthright when answering questions  about electronic surveillance
systems has passed the U.S. House.    The bill, which passed by a
unanimous voice vote Monday afternoon, would require the attorney
general and  the FBI director to submit a detailed report on the use
of systems including Carnivore and its successor,  DCS1000.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/privacy_article-3390.html



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