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How a Controlled Breach Test Helped Me Harden My Linux Server Instantly
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Intro: Most Linux admins think their servers are secure — until they test them. I used to rely solely on firewalls and updates. But one controlled breach test changed the way I look at hardening Linux systems forever. In this blog, I’ll walk you through how I set up a safe internal penetration test, what vulnerabilities I found, and the immediate actions I took to fix them.
1. Why I Ran a Controlled Breach Test
I wanted to simulate what a real attacker could see and do on one of my production-like Ubuntu servers. The goal wasn’t just to find issues — it was to experience my server through an attacker’s eyes. This mindset shift helped me uncover hidden gaps in my defenses.
2. Setting Up the Breach Lab
- I cloned a real production server (minus sensitive data) into a virtual machine.
- I used tools like:
- nmap for port scanning
- lynis and linpeas.sh for misconfiguration scanning
- hydra for brute-force SSH login
- netcat to simulate reverse shells
This gave me a full attack surface.
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