Computer Security Project: VM Security Investigation and Proposal

This project undertakes a comprehensive computer security investigation of a virtual machine (VM) image provided by Benny Vandergast Inc. The primary objective is to evaluate the system's security posture, identify vulnerabilities, and propose mitigation strategies. The project begins with the installation of VMware Workstation and the provided VM image. The student then utilizes Kali Linux and tools like Hydra to discover the IP address, username, and password of the VM, demonstrating an understanding of penetration testing techniques. The investigation continues with a detailed analysis of the system's security, including password setting issues, encryption, network services, security patches, backup issues, open SSL issues, malware, and web server hardening. The project employs the Lynis security auditing tool to scan the system for vulnerabilities, providing a comprehensive report on potential weaknesses and recommendations for improvement. Finally, the project culminates in a proposal outlining specific steps to secure the system, addressing identified vulnerabilities such as PHP, Pacemaker, Libxslt, Wget, and systemd vulnerabilities, ensuring a robust security posture for the VM.

University
Semester
COMPUTER SECURITY-SYSTEM
INVESTIGATION
Student ID
Student Name
Submission Date
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Table of Contents
Project Description................................................................................................................................3
VM ware Installation.............................................................................................................................3
Description of how investigate the System Security..............................................................................8
Description of the Results....................................................................................................................11
Proposal on how to secure the System.................................................................................................16
References...........................................................................................................................................18
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Project Description
Main objective of this project is to perform the evaluation of security for the given
virtual machine image, because the Widgets Inc has contracted Benny Vandergast Inc., for
developing a new web-based store. And, Benny Vandergast Inc., is given a VMware for
testing. So, Widgets Inc., has taken decision to give user to evaluate the system security given
by the company. Therefore, we are performing security evaluation on the given virtual
machine image. Also, identified the security issues on the system by using the one of the
security evaluation tools wish to perform the investigation. To perform evaluation of security
on a given virtual machine image file:
 Describe the how to investigate the system security
 Use system security tool to investigate the system security and describe the
results.
 Finally, provide the proposal on how the system can be secured and also
address the determined security issues.
These are will be analyzed and discussed in detail.
VM ware Installation
 Download the provided Virtual machine image file on Portal.
 After, download and Install the VM ware work station.
 Then, open the VM ware workstation and it is illustrated as below [1].
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Click the Open virtual machine and it is illustrated as below.
After, browse the provided virtual machine file and then click the Open to open the
VM file. It is illustrated as below.
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Then, click the Power on button to open the Ubuntu [2].
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s
Once, VM Ubuntu is installed successfully, We are use the “Kali Linux” to crack and identify
the IP Address, user name and Password for provided the VM by follows the below steps.
1. Start Kali Linux
2. Make sure Hydra is enabled which is illustrated as below.
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3. In Kali Linux, open the terminal which is illustrated as below.
4. By crack the IP address, user name and password by using the below command on
kali Linux terminal.
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This is shown in the below image,
After, enter the user name as administrator and password as administrator. The user
name and password is hacked because this project is to hack the credentials of Virtual
Machine. After, enter the Ubuntu VM to do the credentials of Virtual Machine by use the
below steps,
1. Boot into the recovery mode which is illustrated as below.
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2. Drop to root shell prompt which is demonstrated as below
3. Remount the root with write access
4. Reset the username and password
5. While entering the new password you might be prompt with Authentication
manipulation error like this:
passwd username
Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: Authentication token manipulation error
passwd: password unchanged
The reason this error is that file system is mounted with read access only, So, we can
change and remount the file system. After, reset the password. After the user login, the
Ubuntu virtual machine has following the security issues such as,
 Encrypt data communication issues while all the data transmitted over a
network to monitoring the encrypted the data whenever possible with
password.
 Network services issues on VM instance.
 Security patches
 Backup issues
 Password setting issues
 Open SSL issues
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 Malware Issues
 Web server hardening issues
Description of how investigate the System Security
To perform evaluation of security for the given virtual machine image file, first we
describe the how investigate the system security on virtual machine.
The virtual machine image file is also called as virtual appliance which is consisting
of a pre defined operating system environment and single application. The virtual appliance is
used to simplify the operation and delivery of an application. It can be deployed as a virtual
machine and it running on virtualization technology such as VM ware work station and
virtual box. The virtual machine deployment is used to eliminate the problems with
installation and configuration such as driver and software compatibility issues [3].
The security evaluation is used to examine the system to determine the system degree
compliance with a stated security standard, specification and model. It is observing the
functional behaviours of the system by attempting to penetrate the system. In provided virtual
machine image file as Ubuntu 18.04, security evaluation is an international standard for
certification of computer security which is used to provides an assurance that a product
satisfies a defined the set of security requirements. The specification of security requirements
are used to specified the security target. The security evaluation is used to make the
configuration changes and utilise the additional packages. And also evaluate the
configuration guide to explain the how to set up the evaluated configuration to provide the
information to administrators and user to ensure the security operation of the system. In
security evaluation, we commented to use the full disk encryption which is used to increase
the data protection stored in the system. It allows user to encrypt and hide and protect all the
data is stored in the system. And, update the software on Ubuntu 18.04. It is most important
for the security evaluation which is used to offer the protection against a variety of
vulnerabilities.
The system security is used to implementing the Ubuntu hardening measures which
includes the below steps such as,
 Implementing sudo
 Open SSH security as well as Hardening
On Linux systems, the Open secure shell is a well-known protocol to
administer the system. On most of the systems it runs using its default configurations
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[4]. This is used for opening the potential gateways of the system. It covers SSH
security for securing Open SSH service and increases the system defences. Open SSH
security fairly secures by default and it deployment to provide the decision about use
of best practices in Ubuntu security. In security, the best practices are an effective and
good approach. And, it checks the status of SSH. It use the SSH configuration test to
ensures the functioning and non - functioning services on system. It securing the SSH
server configuration and settings by use the X11 forwarding and disable the rhosts.
The setting of SSH security includes the following information such as,
 Disable rhosts
 DNS hostname checking
 Use of X11 forwarding
 Disable the empty passwords
 Maximum authentication attempts
 Use hash known hosts
 Set SSH protocols
The SSH security use the two tools to perform the system security on Ubuntu.
It is good to manually harden a system, software and the related configurations can
change over time which is helpful to perform a regular security scan. The SSH
security tool are listed in below.
 Lynis - The Lynis is an open source tool which is used to testing the
system security. It can see both configuration file and loaded
configuration to perform the system security. It focuses on Open SSH
and its configuration including the security related settings.
 ssh - audit - The ssh audit tool is best one to have a tool box that can
connect to an SSH server through the network and it performs the
testing the selected system.
 Hardening of compliers and development tools
The hardening the compliers and development tools in System security is to
installed the audit compliers and their packages. This is used to determine the
compliers and security which can be the gateway for an attacker. So, misusing the
possible weakness in the system, the compliers used to build the related exploit code
which is one way to prevent to find what compliers are installed and remove them
immediately.
 Check for malware
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The check for malware is most important part for system security. The Linux
system has malware threats such as Ransom ware, root kit, virus, worm and back
door. So, we need the antivirus on Ubuntu strongly depends on the goals of the system
which is used to reduce the risk by countering the related threats in the system.
 Web server hardening
The web server hardening is used to optimize the SSL and TLS for maximum
the security and speed. The optimization of the SSL and TLs is used to provide the
following information such as,
 High goal setting
In web server, mostly contents aren’t any secret information, but
certain sensitive areas are present. So, we believe to practice hardening the
security by ourselves. Therefore, it requires buying the SSL certificate and
configuring the web server. At last, tuning [5].
 Configuration of Nginx
The configuration web server as Nginx is used to start the hardening
and tuning the system security. It is used to disable the old protocols to allow
the TLS because the old protocols are has several weaknesses, so it enforced to
remove. And, it select the right chippers to deciding the how the connection is
maintained and initiated and it also how the data is protected and encrypted.
Finally, it is used to exotic the HTTPS features to make the web a safer place.
 Identifying the malicious traffic.
 Installation of the file integrity monitoring.
 Configuration of the backups.
 Perform an in-depth Linux security audit by using the system security tool.
Description of the Results
After, use system security tool to investigate the provided virtual machine image. To
perform the system security on Ubuntu 18.04 by using the Lynis. It is a security tool which is
an open source tool and it can perform an in depth system security which is used to evaluate
the system security profile.
Installation of Lynis
To install the Lynis on Ubuntu 18.04 by using the below steps,
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