Linux is a dominant player in many organizations and in the cloud. Securing the Linux environment is extremely important for any organization, and Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) acts as an additional layer to Linux system security.
SELinux System Administration covers basic SELinux concepts and shows you how to enhance Linux system protection measures. You will get to grips with SELinux and understand how it is integrated. As you progress, you’ll get hands-on experience of tuning and configuring SELinux and integrating it into day-to-day administration tasks such as user management, network management, and application maintenance. Platforms such as Kubernetes, system services like systemd, and virtualization solutions like libvirt and Xen, all of which offer SELinux-specific controls, will be explained effectively so that you understand how to apply and configure SELinux within these applications. If applications do not exert the expected behavior, you’ll learn how to fine-tune policies to securely host these applications. In case no policies exist, the book will guide you through developing custom policies on your own.
By the end of this Linux book, you’ll be able to harden any Linux system using SELinux to suit your needs and fine-tune existing policies and develop custom ones to protect any app and service running on your Linux systems.
publication date
2020-12-04
what you will learn
Understand what SELinux is and how it is integrated into Linux
Tune Linux security using policies and their configurable settings
Manage Linux users with least-privilege roles and access controls
Use SELinux controls in system services and virtualization solutions
Analyze SELinux behavior through log events and policy analysis tools
Protect systems against unexpected and malicious behavior
Enhance existing policies or develop custom ones
key features
Learn what SELinux is, and how it acts as a mandatory access control system on Linux * Apply and tune SELinux enforcement to users, applications, platforms, and virtualization solutions * Use real-life examples and custom policies to strengthen the security posture of your systems
approach
The book starts off by explaining SELinux as a Linux-integrated security solution, expanding our knowledge and understanding of this widely-supported technology. We move on to applying SELinux tuning and controls on Linux, and progress towards SELinux-aware applications, services, and virtualization solutions. Finally, we elaborate on customizing SELinux, ending with custom policy development.
audience
This Linux sysadmin book is for Linux administrators who want to control the secure state of their systems using SELinux, and for security professionals who have experience in maintaining a Linux system and want to know about SELinux. Experience in maintaining Linux systems, covering user management, software installation and maintenance, Linux security controls, and network configuration is required to get the most out of this book.
short description
Security-Enhanced Linux is a comprehensive security solution for Linux, supported by many Linux distributions. SELinux System Administration uses easy-to-follow examples to provide end-to-end coverage of everything from what SELinux is to effectively applying SELinux. You’ll also learn how to fine-tune SELinux, including gradual policy development.
subtitle
Implement mandatory access control to secure applications, users, and information flows on Linux
keywords
Security-Enhanced Linux, SELinux, System administration, Linux Networking, Linux Network Administration, Linux Security and Hardening, UNIX Security, SELinux 3
Product ISBN
9781800201477
