Hardening Basics Part 1

Image by Werner Moser (opens in new tab) from Pixabay (opens in new tab)

Welcome to the walkthrough for Harden. In this room, we will explore the different ways to protect an Ubuntu 18.04 Server. Tasks will cover a wide range of hardening topics with challenges along the way to prove your mettle and test your knowledge. You can look forward to the following topics:

1. User Accounts
2. Firewall Security
3. SSH and Encryption
4. Mandatory Access Control

There are no questions related to performing tasks on a virtual machine. However, I have provided a semi-configured Ubuntu 18.04 environment for you to play around with while you go through the different tasks. Things that have been configured at a basic level will be:

• Users
• PAM
• Permissions
• Passwords

And that's it! I'll leave you to play around as you wish. You may access the machine with the following credentials:

spooky:tryhackme

These will be global credentials that should give you access to do everything you need to.  I will provide other credentials for tasks where I feel it's possible to lock yourself out from a mistake. You can find some optional challenges in Part 2 of this room series. 

The hope is that by the end of this room, you'll be able to clearly explain and understand the above topics and apply them to your daily life, or life at work. Whether you're a senior systems administrator or just starting out as a junior, these topics will help you understand what it takes to harden a Linux system.

Topics have been chosen from this (opens in new tab) book. I looked through the table of contents and picked out the ones that would be the most important and allow the room to have the best content while still keeping it within the proper limits. I think the above 4 topics are the best and will give you the most knowledge on how to harden a system. If you have a subscription to O'Reilly through work or school, I suggest checking the book out.

Disclaimer

All tasks for this room were completed using Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. That being said, pretty much everything that applies to 18.04 can apply to 20.04 as well. If you take what you learn out of this room and try to apply it in the real world for practice and fun and something does not work, be sure to check the documentation for what you are trying to do.