Contents
Roadmap info from roadmap website
Auth Logs
When dealing with a Linux server and its maintenance, one of the most critical components to regularly review is the auth logs. These logs, usually located in /var/log/auth.log (for Debian-based distributions) or /var/log/secure (for Red Hat and CentOS), record all authentication-related events and activities which have occurred on the server. This includes, among others, system logins, password changes, and issued sudo commands.
Auth logs are an invaluable tool for monitoring and analyzing the security of your Linux server. They can indicate brute force login attacks, unauthorized access attempts, and any suspicious behavior. Regular analysis of these logs is a fundamental task in ensuring server security and data integrity.
Here is an example of how you can use the tail command to view the last few entries of the authentication log:
tail /var/log/auth.log
Get yourself familiar with reading and understanding auth logs, as it’s one essential way to keep your server secure.