Linux Platform Security: Practical Tools and Methods

This page contains course information for students taking the Linux Platform Security workshop, offered February 7-8, 2012 through Merit. This information will be available before and during the course.

The workshop, taught over 2 days, is designed as an intensive, hands-on learning experience in how to assess and secure your Linux platform infrastructure using current open-source tools, techniques, and best practices. The focus will be on studying current attack methodologies, examining your platform for vulnerabilities, presenting recommended solutions and best practices for mitigation, and assessing the effectiveness of the tools and methods used.

Course Materials

To Do Before Class

You'll minimize your distractions in class if you prepare your laptop as follows before class begins:

1. Download and install VMware Player, Server, or Fusion.
2. Download the Virtual Lab Environment, and boot it into VMware Player.
3. Download the Caine Live Linux .iso file, and burn a bootable CD. (Needed on second day of class only.)

Virtual Lab Environment

You will need an IA32 compatible laptop running VMware Player, Server, or Fusion. Please follow the following steps to bring up your virtual lab:

1. Create a new directory for your virtual guest.
   
2. Download the following two files to your new directory (right-click on each and select "Save As"):
   • fc16.vmx
   SHA1(fc16.vmx)=c7907f386a568b57c2c3c1b027cde048ce631f44
   • fc16.vmdk.gz (2.1 GB)
   SHA1(fc16.vmdk.gz)= 7ac88adeaacab86b3c67b99a16517ea72bfd85eb


3. Expand fc16.vmdk.gz using gunzip or equivalent (the expanded file will be about 5.7 GB in size):
   gunzip fc16.vmdk.gz


4. In VMware, open your virtual guest, browse to your new directory and boot the lab environment. If you are asked whether you moved or copied the environment, indicate you copied it. If you are asked if you want to update VMware Tools, you can safely decline.

Login and password information for the lab environment will be sent to you under separate cover.

The virtual lab environment has been modified specifically for this course. It suffers several security vulnerabilities and is not kept up to date with respect to patches. It contains a host firewall configured not to allow most inbound connections as the only line of defense. While a necessary and valuable component of this course, the lab environment is not recommended for any other use.

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