I finally got Suse 11.3 (KDE) and Ubuntu 10.04 (Gnome) on encrypted partitions a few weeks ago. Both would install fine but I had issues with getting them to both boot. I finally found a way around that using GAG bootloader. (I have four hard drives, 3 sata and one ide.) I upgraded Ubuntu 10.04 to 10.10 and that made it so I couldn't boot Suse 11.3. So I just haven't had the time to fix it all. So I decided to just do a reinstall of Ubuntu. Then I decided I wanted to get into security a little more and was thinking about giving Ubuntu Privacy Remix a try.

I live in an area where break ins might be a problem. I say might because other places have been once and awhile and businesses have been robbed at gun point now and then. I don't think I have to worry but it did get me thinking more about security, of course online security is just as, if not more important to me.

Online: My cable modem is hooked up to a router that is password protected and has its own firewall. I use Windows Vista for one game only and all my other online activities with Linux. I have rkhunter, chrootkit and CalmAV installed.

Offline: I have all my hard disk encrypted. Partitions with Encrypted LVM and storage with Truecrypt that I set up, I think, so it can only be accessed from Linux. If I go out I turn off all disks in bios, so nothing boots, and I have my bios password protected.

With all of that said. Is there anything else I can do? I want to learn more about security from what people are doing themselves. What else could I do? What else can I play around with? I am more of a hands on person rather then reading a lot to learn.

I also like with Ubuntu, Debian or Suse (packman) how easy it is to set up the basics for what I need online and offline. Has anyone tried the Ubuntu Security remix? How is it? Is there another distro that I could set up the basics fairly fast (with little to no headaches,) and jump right into security features and tools it has?

If I stay with Ubuntu what tools should I add to it right off?

I hope I explained that well. I am not paranoid about security but I do want to learn more and get to a point where, even if it seems like a lot and over kill, I do most or all of these things automatically and know what I am doing. It seems like I should be able to do a little more in the security area.

Also: I don't have wireless connections and my router wireless features are turned off.


EDIT: I Decided to just go with Ubuntu 10.10 and reinstall it, getting rid of the Suse 11.3 partition for now and using the whole drive for Ubuntu. I guess this thread ended up being more about security then I thought it would be so it is in the wrong section, of course, lol. If a Mod could move it I would appreciate that I would still like to hear thoughts on what I am doing, what others are doing and tools I could be using in addition to this.

I've never used Ubuntu Privacy Remix.

There's a couple more things you could do. You can stuff all of your HDDs in a hot swappable tower system. When you leave you can simply disconnect the little tower and put it in a safe if you have one. Very easy.

Have you research Security Enhanced Linux (SELinux)? It is software developed by the NSA to give Linux an extra layer of security. For example if you're logged in as a normal use and then switch to root. The system will see you as root but SELinux will still recognize you based on your SELinux ID. Therefore even if you're logged in as root you can only do to the system what is allowed via the SELinux policy for your user. Granted it takes a bit of time setting up and getting a proper policy. But once you have it down it won't be hard to do again because you can make a backup of that policy.

SAM

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SELinux is a great idea. I have heard about it often but never really got into it much, (except once.) Sounds like a good place to go at this point. However, as much as I prefer hands on learning over learning by reading, it might be a good idea to read up on it. I almost think I gave it a try a year ago when I was using Suse and I messed it up (Because I didn't read and learn what to do correctly, lol)

I like the tower idea but I don't have a lot of places to hide things securely in here. I could start bolting things down but I am not sure I want to do that just yet, lol. I still might get that tower though. It would come in handy.

re: online security (outside and, perhaps, prliminary to, SELinux)

A "quick and dirty" way to harden a Debian-based distro (like ubuntu) is via bastille. I hate to recommend anything HP, but this is a good hardening tool. You'll need perl-tk before installing, however.

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I wanted to give this a try before I did anything else. I just did a clean install of Ubuntu 10.10 so I thought the time was perfect.

I set it up, couldn't be more easier. I went through the list and answered all the questions (sudo bastille -x) I wanted to say thanks first before I rebooted my system, just incase I messed something up and it took me awhile to fix it or reinstall everything, lol.

No smoke, sparks or fire :-)

Well initially all went well. But I messed a few things up. So I ended up reinstalling Ubuntu again. No big deal. I just need to read up on what each feature Bastille has and what it does. Live and learn, lol.

It is simple but I did the same thing the first time. { Lol is right! } I just choose most defaults except I want to disable apache, samba, telnet, ftp, choose No to most additional logging unless desired, stay away from the optional choices that put one in a submenu, Yes to put the warning up,etc.

Best wishes and You're welcome!