Overview

This course features Coursera Coach! A smarter way to learn with interactive, real-time conversations that help you test your knowledge, challenge assumptions, and deepen your understanding as you progress through the course. In this hands-on course, you will master the critical techniques needed to secure a Linux system. The course covers essential areas such as monitoring and auditing security, data encryption, securing services, and network security. You’ll gain practical skills to secure user access, manage logs, configure firewalls, and test security configurations, all while focusing on real-world applications. The course begins with an overview of Linux security techniques, covering log management and user password auditing. You'll learn how to secure the filesystem and monitor SUID and SGID bits. Following this, you will explore data security techniques, such as using LUKS for disk encryption and GPG for data-at-rest protection. You'll then delve into securing services, including SELinux, chroot jails, and LXC containers, followed by network security, where you’ll learn to manage firewalls using iptables and firewalld. Finally, you’ll apply security testing tools to verify the configurations and encryption. By the end of this course, you will be able to configure and manage Linux security features to protect systems and networks against potential threats. This course is ideal for Linux administrators, security professionals, and anyone looking to strengthen the security of their Linux systems. A basic understanding of Linux system administration is recommended, but there are no strict prerequisites. Whether you're managing small servers or large enterprise environments, this course will provide the necessary skills to secure your Linux systems effectively.

Syllabus

Monitoring and Auditing Security

In this module, we will explore Linux security monitoring and auditing techniques, focusing on system logs, auditing user activities, and securing access points. Topics include configuring syslog and journald, auditing user passwords, monitoring files, and using tools like fail2ban for login security.

Data Security

In this module, we will dive into data security techniques for protecting sensitive information on Linux systems. We'll cover encryption methods like LUKS, GPG, and SSH, as well as checksum verification strategies to maintain data integrity and prevent unauthorized access.

Securing Services

In this module, we will examine how to secure services using SELinux, chroot jails, and LXC containers. We’ll also look at managing SELinux policies, setting up isolated environments, and securing services to mitigate potential risks.

Securing Networks

In this module, we will focus on securing network communication using TCP Wrappers, iptables, and firewalld. You’ll learn how to manage network interfaces, control traffic flows, and safeguard your system against network-based attacks.

Security Testing

In this module, we will explore various security testing methods, including verifying firewall configurations and using network analysis tools like Wireshark and TCPDUMP to ensure the integrity of data encryption and the overall security of your network.