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I'm a newbie in this world and I do not have a lot of knowledge about how security works on Linux systems. I recently created a droplet on DigitalOcean with Ubuntu 13 and I've been setting it up by following some of the tutorials they have.

But I can see that there are a lot of security tools that do mostly the same thing, so I am unsure what I should install and configure. So far this is what I installed:

Is this too much or maybe overreacting? And are any of the above unnecessary? Does anyone suggest some other tools besides the above that I should install?

EDIT: I ended up installing/setting up the following:

I hope that now I got a basic security setup running. Any input on what I am missing or what I should not use is appreciated.

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    Whether it is too much or too little depends entirely on what risks you are trying to mitigate. What are you planning to do with the server?
    – Jos
    Apr 13, 2014 at 10:17
  • It's going to be a web server, it will run a public website and API (running on ruby with postgresql, memcached and redis)
    – Roland
    Apr 13, 2014 at 10:25

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It's about process and policy as well as tools. I think you need a more holistic approach such as those outlined in the CIS benchmarks. I would consult the new Ubuntu one just released as well as the Apache one if you'll be running Apache as your web server.

Ubuntu CIS Benchmark

https://benchmarks.cisecurity.org/downloads/show-single/?file=ubuntu1204.100

Apache CIS Benchmark

https://benchmarks.cisecurity.org/downloads/show-single/?file=apache24.110

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  • I will actually be running varnish on a machine, nginx on some other machines and a ruby http server on others. I'll take a look at the CIS benchmark though to see what is that about, thanks :)
    – Roland
    Apr 17, 2014 at 11:11

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