Hardening your Android Device : Few Essentials

1.   Android is the most popular mobile platform in the world, with a wide variety of applications, including many applications that aid in communications security, censorship circumvention, and activist organization. Moreover, the core of the Android platform is Open Source, auditable, and modifiable by anyone. Unfortunately though, mobile devices in general and Android devices in particular have not been designed with privacy in mind. In fact, they've seemingly been designed with nearly the opposite goal: to make it easy for third parties, telecommunications companies, sophisticated state-sized adversaries, and even random hackers to extract all manner of personal information from the user. This includes the full content of personal communications with business partners and loved ones. Worse still, by default, the user is given very little in the way of control or even informed consent about what information is being collected and how.

 

2.  This presentation brings out few basic steps that every android phone user should configure to harden his/her device.Although the list is not completely exhaustive but it brings out basic necessities as expected from any smart user.

 

Hardening Linux : BASTILLE-LINUX

1.   Linux is gaining its pace in gaining new user base daily pan globe and with this increase it becomes all the more important to harden it because now Linux will soon be of interest to hackers....and in this post I am giving a brief introduction about Bastille, a software tool that eases the process of hardening a Linux system, giving you the choice of what to lock down and what not to, depending on your security requirements. It bundles many of the tasks routinely done to securely configure a Linux system into one package.It is a set of Perl scripts that run as an interactive program, asking questions for each step of the hardening process. The scripts explain each step well, enabling you to understand what security measures will be introduced by any changes you make and why. Bastille can also optionally save your choice of options to a file for remote deployment to other machines.

2. Bastille currently works with Red Hat, Fedora, SUSE, Debian, Ubuntu, Gentoo, and Mandriva distributions, as well as HP-UX. A beta version is also available for Mac OS X. Most of the distributions Bastille supports have it available as a package that you can install with the default package manager for the distribution. Once it is installed, just run Bastille as root.After you install it vide the Ubuntu Software centre,the ways to use and configure is shown vide screen-shots below :

FEDORA 18 RELEASE DATE : 08 Jan 2013

Hi guys....a very HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013 to you.....and for those of you like me who are waiting to upgrade ur Beefy Miracle to Fedora 18 Spherical Cow..u need to wait a few more days till 8 January 2013... that's the release date scheduled now..hope that stands by the time!!!

Security Design @ WebHosting

1.  At a time today when new websites are being hosted at quite a pace,proportional is the pace of hacking and defacing of these websites.Today you have a website maker in the market who may simply demand some Rs 500/ per page design and few more hundreds for hosting it...and we all are ready to do pay him....but at what price....is it simply the final handing over taking over of the password that closes the deal between you and the designer/hoster?....NO....I rate it equivalent to the toss....thereon the match begins.....just a matter of time depending on what all security parameters/variables/factors you took into consideration while designing it?

2.  Specially concerned with web sites who have E-Commerce and transactions or who deal with handling database of huge sizes which can be critical later on, if compromised any time.The following factors should be noted down and infact dealt with seriously to be kept on high priority while designing and final hosting :

- Password /Data Protection : You must have a sound password and methods to protect all the DATA in place.

- OS/Server hardening : You use a windows or a linux....rest assured you must always used a hardened OS/Server.

- OS Selection : Create and design on any OS...today you can launch it on web.A more vulnerable OS which has had a history of hacks and known exploits should be avoided.

- DDoS Protection : Shared hosting servers are vulnerable to attacks by hackers who carry out their work by uploading malware or otherwise malicious sites or code onto a server. These malware programs be introduced to a server through security vulnerabilities in a legitimate client’s site, and the malware is used for anything from stealing credit card data to launching a DDoS, or Distributed Denial of Service attack.So think before you fire up your site.

- Spam filters : No explanations

- Firewalls : Must...so many types in market : Decide like what you r going to select a HARDWARE FIREWALL or a SOFTWARE FIREWALL.The selection is of crucial significance in deciding the overall security rating!!!

- BACKUP : You must have a way to keep backing up all your data.Some ploicy should be designed of what happens if owing to some kind of reason you loose all ur data....mirror or offline backup!!!!anything...but keep in mind.

- SSL enabled server : MUST

- SFTP: Though FTP is not that bad....but when SFTP is there....y bank on a relatively lower secured protocol......