SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10

Superior Application Security

Software flaws in applications that are exposed via the Internet can allow attackers to compromise systems that host critical data. Perimeter security only solves part of the problem, and firewalls do little to protect against the growing number of threats that originate from within company walls.

As a result, IT organizations regularly patch their servers to protect against the latest threats; however, this reactive security strategy still leaves businesses dangerously exposed. With experienced hackers becoming faster at exploiting security vulnerabilities, IT organizations often have little or no time to download, test and apply security patches to their systems.

Novell AppArmor®

The most effective solution is to use application security in addition to other security best practices. Application security, such as that provided by the Novell AppArmor technology integrated with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, allows systems administrators to specify the files that a program may access and the operations that that program may perform on the files. Any other behavior beyond that scope is denied and logged.

Common Criteria Certification

The Common Criteria (CC) is an international standard (ISO/IEC 15408) for computer security and describes a framework of security requirements for IT products. Product vendor can evaluates their products under the Common Criteria for IT Security Evaluation. EAL 4 is the most common EAL level, which ensure conventional, user-based security features. The various Protection Profiles (PP) describe different implementation-independent security requirements like e.g. Controlled Access Protection Profile (CAPP).

• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 is certified at Common Criteria CAPP/EAL 4+.
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 with Service Pack 1 is currently under evaluation for getting CC-CAPP/EAL4+ (Controlled Access Protection Profile, Evaluation Assurance Level 4 with augmentations) and the issuing of the certificate is expected for later 2007.

Application Firewall

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 provides enterprise-class application security that protects the operating system and its applications from the harmful side effects of attacks, malicious applications and viruses. It does this by creating a firewall around applications. If an application is compromised by an intruder, damage is not permitted outside the "application firewall." No matter where an attack originates—internally or externally—SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 allows enterprises to ensure data integrity while reducing system administration costs and preventing downtime.

Best-in-class

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 is the only enterprise-class Linux server to:

• Provide out-of-the-box application security at no extra cost.
• Provide automated application-profiling and policy-creation tools that simplify application security administration and configuration. Security policies can be created and deployed in minutes, not days.
• Provide the best-performing application security solution. (The performance overhead is significantly lower than that of SELinux, which ranges between 7 and 16 percent.)
• Permit dynamic policy updates without an interruption in service. Any change to SELinux security policies requires the system to be taken down and rebooted. No reboot is necessary when changing an AppArmor policy.
• Offer a complementary solution that assists in enterprise-wide policy deployment. Get the details on how to use Novell ZENworks® Linux Management (ZLM) to administer AppArmor security policies.