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How I Use aide to Detect Unauthorized Changes on My Linux and Ubuntu Servers
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Intro: One of the biggest risks on any Linux system is a silent change — a backdoor quietly added, a config file altered, or a binary replaced. That’s why every server I deploy today includes one essential tool: AIDE (Advanced Intrusion Detection Environment). It’s like Tripwire, but free, fast, and simple to configure.
In this blog, I’ll walk you through exactly how I use AIDE to detect unauthorized changes — before they become real threats.
1. Why File Integrity Monitoring Matters
Attackers often leave behind tiny traces:
- A modified binary like /bin/ls or sshd
- A new cron job
- A script dropped into /tmp, /var/tmp, or /dev/shm
These changes usually don’t cause alerts unless you’re actively monitoring them. That’s where AIDE comes in.
2. Installing AIDE
# Ubuntusudo apt updatesudo apt install aide
# Red Hat / CentOS / AlmaLinuxsudo yum install aide
3. Initialize the AIDE Database
After install, run:
sudo aideinit
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