Generate Revenue Through IT Using Business Service Management Sponsored by HP Making sure that your business applications are available to their end users is an important part of running your business smoothly. Business operations have evolved to where IT must now broaden its focus to help the company attract, retain and grow customer relationships and increase customer satisfaction. Business service management (BSM) helps lay the foundation by managing services in dynamic support of business requirements. »     Managing the Modern Network Sponsored by HP Networks are more than vehicles to transport e-mail and Web pages. In a global economy where information crosses the globe in an instant, and where Web-based applications power business, it's more important than ever to ensure your network is safe from threats and optimized to deliver the data your business needs. »     Storage Networking 2, Configuration and Planning Sponsored by HP In Part 1, we discussed storage area networks (SANs) and fibre channel. In Part 2, delve into best practices and cover the general concepts you must know before configuring SAN-attached storage. The most critical, sometimes tedious, part of setting up a SAN is configuring each individual disk array. This guide examines configurations for SAN-attached servers and disk arrays, and also includes a look at the future of IP storage. »     Is Your Disaster Recovery Plan Good Enough? Get Disaster Recovery Right Sponsored by HP Preparing for a disaster is more often than not part of the storage planning process, and without question it is one of the most difficult task, since it includes local hardware and software, networking equipment, and a test plan to ensure that you can recover from the disaster. Learn how to put your organization on the proper disaster recovery plan, now. »

Is Linux more secure than Windows, or vice versa? Fueled by conflicting industry reports, this controversy keeps raging. To arrive at a well-informed opinion on the subject, you need to know as much as you can about what kinds of security measures are actually available for Linux. Moreover, if you're administering Linux already, some implementation tips from Linux security pros can undoubtedly come in handy.

"It's hard to talk about 'Linux' as an operating system, since there are so many different variations. A number of different OSes--such as FreeBSD, VMS, mainframe OSes like VM or VSE, or other proprietary OSes--may lay claim to the title of 'most secure OS,'" observes Pete Lindstrom, CISSP, research director for Spire Security, LLC.

"The truth is that we don't, as a community, attempt to figure out which OS is most secure. We rely on an 'unpopularity' contest to figure that out. Popularity is a fickle thing, though. Right now, Linux has some momentum in security over Microsoft's OS family, but that can change quickly."

The debate over OS security intensified in February of this year, when the Aberdeen analyst group released a report based on publicly available information from CERT. "Contrary to popular misconception, Microsoft does not have the worst track record when it comes to security vulnerabilities. Also contrary to public wisdom, Unix- and Linux-based systems are just as vulnerable to viruses, Trojans, and worms," the report stated.

Meanwhile, though, positive industry perceptions of Linux security actually seem to be picking up steam. A study by Evans Data Corp., released earlier this month, found that the number of developers who regard Linux as "the most innately secure operating system" leaped 19 percent over the past six months.

Jim Dennis, a principal at Starshine.org, is one practitioner who gives Linux a big security nod over other OSes. For one thing, Linux distros have been built from the ground up with security as a major focus, according to Dennis.

Dennis also points to the existence of many "hardened" Linux kernels--such as LIDS, RSBAC, and LOMAC--as well as "hardened" Linux distros, including SELinux, OpenWall Linux (OWL), and Adamantix. (Adamantix was previously dubbed Trusted Debian.)

Even without a hardened distro/kernel, though, there are many ways of battening down Linux's hatches. In interviews with LinuxPlanet, Lindstrom and Dennis both provided plenty of advice for Linux administrators, across areas ranging from security policies to secure installation, including cryptography, protection of CGI and dynamic content, replacement of deprecated protocols, and more.

Next: Don't Place the Cart Before the Security Horse »