Hardening Linux

“Linux is an enterprise-grade operating system and is capable of
the utmost security. However, many installations fall short because
the out-of-the-box setup routines have to cater for the lowest
common denominator.

“There’s no way a generic installer can assume what it is to be
used for. And, as Linux is generally a cornucopia of software–and
as more and more ‘non-techie’ people adopt Linux–this has to add
up to bucket loads of web servers, mail servers, ftp servers and
more which are running, but aren’t needed. This is particularly
true if your system has been running for some time. Modern distros,
like Ubuntu, are far more defensive by default–but this doesn’t
help large and/or busy systems who can’t afford to rebuild from
scratch each time a new release is available…”

Complete
Story