This course is part of the following programs or tracks:

RHCA - Red Hat® Certified Architect

RHCSS - Red Hat® Certified Security Specialist

Course Outline

1.       Tracking Security Updates

·         Gain deeper understanding of how Red Hat Maintains and publishes updates and security advisors.

·         Understand Red Hat Security response and Red hat Severity scoring.

·         Get deeper understanding of  Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) and Errata

·         Red Hat Security Advisory, Bug Fix Advisory, Enhancement Advisory

·         Discuss package maintenance through backporting.

·         Working and engaging with Red hat Security response team

2.       Manage software updates

·         Develop a process for applying updates to systems including verifying properties of the update.

·         Learn how to apply Security updates

·         How to perform GPG package signature verification

·         Understand package triggers and scripts and learn how to validate them

3.       Secure File Systems

·         Use separate block devices to prevent critical FileSystems from overfilling

·         Work with Linux Unified Key Setup (LUKS)  to create and encrypted FileSystem

·         Allocating  FileSystems for Secure Containment

·         Allocate an advanced file system layout and use file system encryption.

4.       Manage File Systems

·         Secure Filesystem using security related mount options (nodev, noexec, nosuid, user_xattr_acl)

·         Secure individual files with file attributes (a-append, d-dump, i-immutable, S-synchronous updates, j-data journaling)

·         Understand implication of setting Extended File Attributes

5.       Security Threats From Special Permissions

·         Understand security impact of setting special permissions on files and directories

·         Learn how to audit files and directories with special permissions

·         The risks of SetUID programs and build UNIX shell script to monitor such risks

6.       Secure Server with  Additional File Access Controls

·         Reduce unwanted security risks by setting default file permissions

·         Proper use of Access Control List for securing your system from uninvited access to data

7.       Monitoring System with Intrusion Detection Software

·         Using AIDE, create filesystem metadata database to help perform file system auditing

·         Learn how to install AIDE

·         Hands on practical on AIDE configuration

8.       Protecting User Accounts from vulnerabilities

·         How to secure system using appropriate password-aging policies

·         Learn how to audit user accounts on your system

·         Identify security threats by detecting duplicate system users.

9.       Manage pluggable authentication modules (PAMs)

·         Understand PAM syntax and configuration file in detail (/etc/pam.d)

·         Learn PAM Rule Types (auth, account, password, session)

·         Get deeper understanding of PAM controls.

·         Configure Password complexity policy through PAM

·         Apply limits to user to tighten server security

·         Lock accounts with multiple failed logins

10.   Securing  Server Console Access

·         Apply local console setting changes to comply with security policy requirements

·         Learn how to secure GRUB boot loader

·         Modify text console setting. Displaying acceptable user notification.

·         Secure graphical console setting

·         Implications of disabling Control-Alt-Delete

·         How to disable poweroff and Reboot on Login window.

11.   Installing Central Authentication

·         Deploy both client and server centralized authentication using Red Hat Enterprise Linux Identify Management (IdM)

·         Installing an Identity Management Server (IdM)

·         User Administration - Adding users and group entries to Identity Management Server

·         Registering a client System with Identity Management Server

12.   Manage Central Authentication

·         Learn How to control IdM user access

·         Define password expiration policy for IdM

·         Control access to both machines and services running on these machines by defining rules.

·         Granting  and implanting sudo access through Identify Management Server

13.   Configure System Logging

·         Configure Centralized remote logging server and configure clients to send messages to it.

·         Use filter conditions to divide local and remote logs.

·         Learn how to encrypt logs sent over the network to the central logging server.

·         Understand, configure and implement log file rotation policies through logrotate.conf

14.   Configure system auditing

·         Understand more about Linux auditing subsystem named auditd to capture kernel messages.

·         Learn how to configure auditd and how to perform remote logging with auditd.

·         Decipher contents of the audit.log file to identify security events and report on auditing messages.

·         Learn how to investigate system calls performed by a process by tracing a program using autrace.

·         Writing, removing and inspecting custom audit rules using auditctl.

·         How to use predefined audit sets for auditing compliance.

15.   Controlling Access to Network Services

·         Configure IPV4 and IPV6 kernel-level firewall rules.

·         After understanding iptable basics learn best rule management practices.

·         Build shell script to establish the current firewall to make for editing rule modification.

·         Manage firewall rules to limit connectivity to network services.