Open Source Web Development with LAMP: Using Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl, and PHP

1.3. Security

Security is absolutely crucial. There are a lot of folks on the Internet who want to crack into your computer. It is in your best interest and everyone else’s that you do all you can to deny them this bizarre satisfaction. Cracking is a time-honored culture (perhaps “honored” is not the right word); it should be more of a time-honored tradition to make it difficult. However, this is not a book on securing your computer; it is a book on Open Source web development. We discuss security issues when appropriate, and highly recommend (for obvious reasons) Hacking Linux Exposed (www.hackinglinuxexposed.com [Hatch+ 02]) as a good reference. Also, check out the Linux Security HOWTO at www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Security-HOWTO.html; this is ...