Hardening/logging Ubuntu Home Server activity

Question

I just recently put together a server that I have some files, my music, and other media on.

I also built it so that I could mess with the Linux OS, and experiment with a server environment, just because I am curious.

Apart from disabling services, having a strong password(you know the simple things):

Are there any other more complex things that I could do to better protect the machine? (I am not intereted in simple things, but I am interested in things that I could have to go out of my way to implement.)

Also are there ways that would allow me to log things such as?

• Access time of my files
• Times of System Startup
• Log in Attempts
• Connection Status
• Connected Machines

Can information like this be obtained using some service built it or would there need to be a secondary application etc?

Answer 1

Logwatch is a good addition for reviewing logs, it parses your logs looking for any fail login attempts etc. and will generate easy to read reports. Also, DenyHosts will help prevent brute force attacks against your ssh login. Both of these are available from the ubuntu repos. You may also want to take a look at Snort or another IDS software package these take a bit more setup but can also help in preventing/discovering attacks.