Re: Resurrecting the Securing Debian Manual

I'd like to see updates on Active Response.
I've adopted Wazuh for such a task.

On 6/9/25 09:20, Noah Meyerhans wrote:
> Hi all.  The Securing Debian Manual (the harden-doc package) is
> woefully out of date and doesn't provide accurate guidance for
> operating modern software in the current threat landscape.  I'd like
> to begin the task of updating it to reflect current best practice and
> to document current tools and technologies.
>
> Most basically, I wonder if folks think this is a worthy idea.  The
> landscape has changed significantly since harden-doc was first
> written.  Default configurations don't require as much hardening, and
> there are lots more available resources.  Maybe harden-doc has
> stagnated because there's no real need for it?
>
> Assuming we do revive the doc, here are some ideas of what I'd like to
> do with the document.  I'd like to also get feedback, ideas, and
> contributions from others interested in the topic.
>
> 1. More background information on principles such as:
>     a. Threat modeling
>     b. Defense in depth
>     c. Least privilege
> 2. Modern server deployment practices, such as:
>     a. Sandboxing (with systemd, containers, etc)
>     b. Image-based deployments, including cloud
>     c. Update deployment strategies for large fleets
> 3. Data privacy:
>     a. VPNs, wireguard, etc
>     b. Disk encryption
> 4. Workstation best practices, including:
>     a. Ssh key generation and handling
>     b. Basic browser hygine
>     c. Password managers and other password hygine
>
> My inclination is to primarily focus on general principles rather than
> try to document specific settings in specific packages, as in the
> current document's Chapter 5 ("Securing services running on your
> system").  It'll make sense to document some approaches to safe usage of
> the most common software (firefox, openssh, etc), but I don't believe
> that it's feasible to provide useful advice for a meaningful subset of
> Debian packages.
>
> Should we maybe consider maintaining this document on wiki.debian.org,
> rather than being a centrally maintained document? The wiki may scale
> better to multiple contributors, leading to better content and more
> active maintenance.
>
> If you've got ideas for other topics, I'd love to hear them.
>
> noah
>