SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10

Security with AppArmor

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.

Application Security with AppArmor

The most effective solution to protect you from external AND internal threats is to use application security, in addition to other security best practices. Application security, such as that provided by the AppArmor® technology integrated with SUSE® Linux Enterprise 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.

AppArmor is the most effective and easy-to-use application security framework for Linux applications available today. It proactively protects the operating system and applications from external or internal threats, including zero-day attacks, by enforcing good program behavior and preventing even unknown software flaws from being exploited. Security profiles completely define what system resources individual programs can access, and with what privileges. A number of default policies are included, along with learning-based tools and advanced statistical analytics that simplify the development of customized policies, even for very complex applications.

Common Criteria Certification

The Common Criteria (CC) for Information Technology Security Evaluation is an independent evaluation service based on an international standard (ISO/IEC 15408) and describes a framework of security requirements for IT products. Under Common Criteria, products are evaluated against strict standards for various features, such as the development environment, security functionality, the handling of security vulnerabilities, security related documentation and product testing. CC is widely recognized among IT professionals, government agencies and enterprises as a seal of approval for mission-critical software because it helps product vendors validate the quality and security of their products in a common language and enables customers to judge about the security level of any IT product they intend to deploy.

The Common Criteria program consists of seven different certification levels. These are known as Evaluation Assurance Levels (EAL). The most common Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL)—and the highest level likely where a product hasn't been developed as "secure" from the start—is EAL4, which ensures the compliance of requirements on developer functional testing, product design, delivery, implementation, vulnerability analysis, low-level design documentation, development and system automated configuration management, and an informal security policy model. The various Protection Profiles (PP) describe different functional security requirements, the Controlled Access Protection Profile (CAPP) e.g. specifies a set of requirements, including access controls capable of enforcing access limitations on individual users and data objects, and an audit capability that records the security-relevant events that occur within the system.

• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Service Pack 4 is certified to be compliant with the Common Criteria (CC) Controlled Access Protection Profile (CAPP) at Evaluation Assurance Level 4 with augmentations (EAL 4+) for the x86-64, POWER/ppc, and s390x architectures. Click here for Certification Report.
• The Linux Audit Framework shipped with SUSE Linux Enterprise since SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 Service Pack 4 (SP4) provides a CAPP compliant audit subsystem that reliably collects information about any security-relevant events—those events governed by the security policies of the operating system. The audit records can be examined to determine whether any violation of security policies has been attempted, and by whom.

Best-in-class

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 provides:

• Out-of-the-box application security at no extra cost.
• 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.
• The best-performing application security solution. (The performance overhead of AppArmor is significantly lower than that of SELinux, which ranges between 7 and 16 percent.)
• The ability to dynamically update policies 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.
• The ability to use 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.