Lynis is an open source linux security auditing tool. The primary goal is to help users with auditing and hardening of Unix and Linux based systems. The software is very flexible and runs on almost every Unix based system (including Mac). Even the installation of the software itself is optional!
It’s a great tool for auditing *nix based systems and hardening them based on the recommendations, it works well on a variety of systems including Linux, AIX, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Mac OS X & Solaris.
We’ve written about this tool a few times, when it first came out in 2008 – Lynis – Security & System Auditing Tool for UNIX/Linux and again in 2009 – Lynis 1.2.6 Released – UNIX System & Security Auditing Tool.
How it works
Lynis will perform hundreds of individual tests to determine the security state of the system. Many of these tests are also part of common security guidelines and standards. Examples include searching for installed software and determine possible configuration flaws. Lynis goes further and does also test individual software components, checks related configuration files and measures performance. After these tests, a scan report will be displayed with all discovered findings.
Typical use cases for Lynis:
- Security auditing
- Vulnerability scanning
- System hardening
Why open source?
Open source software provides trust by having people look into the code. Adjustments are easily made, providing you with a flexible solution for your business. But can you trust systems and software with your data? Lynis provides you this confidence. It does so with extensive auditing of your systems. This way you can verify and stay in control of your security needs.
You can download Lynis v1.6.0 here:
Or read more here.
Thanks, can always use a new tool in my arsenal.
Nice tool, I was searching for something like that, thanks!
A little mistake:
“You can download Lynx v1.6.0 here:”
It was Lynis not Lynx.
Lynx is that text-only browser, very good too.
Many thanks.
Thanks, corrected :)