Security Expert Josh More visited AmesLUG to give a talk about web security. His talk was well received, and included a great overview of useful software and techniques to properly secure web sites.

Some topics covered included Mod_Security (and a few ideas for unconventional uses of rulesets), techinques for locking down Apache, and a number of useful modules.

Josh covered his usual technique for setting up virtual hosting environments, and talked about frontend application level firewalling with products such as Incapsula.

He also covered GreenSQL, which is a proxy used to help secure database queries by examining them for risky queries.

Wrapping up, he discussed the value of learning Apparmor or SELinux and gave a compelling example of how they can be used to more granularly manage permissions on your system.

-Submitted by Matt, Scott is on "vacation" for a bit.