Bastille Linux vs. SELinux
What is the difference between Bastille Linux and SELinux?

    Requires Free Membership to View

    Login

    When you register, my team of editors will also send you resources covering Linux administration and management; integration and interoperability between Linux, Windows and Unix; securing Linux and mixed-platform environments; and migrating to Linux.

    Cathleen A. Gagne, Senior Editorial Director

    By submitting your registration information to SearchEnterpriseLinux.com you agree to receive email communications from TechTarget and TechTarget partners. We encourage you to read our Privacy Policy which contains important disclosures about how we collect and use your registration and other information. If you reside outside of the United States, by submitting this registration information you consent to having your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States. Your use of SearchEnterpriseLinux.com is governed by our Terms of Use. You may contact us at webmaster@TechTarget.com.

Bastille is certainly easier to configure than SELinux because they do two very different things. Bastille Linux is a hardening script for a variety of Linux distributions. It runs through a list of questions about security on your host and based on your answers changes configuration settings to secure your host.

SELinux uses mandatory access controls like Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and Multi-Level Security (MLS) to secure the Linux operating system. It operates on the principal of providing user, system programs and servers with the minimum amount of privilege required to perform their functions. Therefore if a program or server is compromised, then the damage that an attacker can cause is potentially limited to the program or server they have compromised.

Bastille is a powerful and flexible hardening tool but it cannot be compared to SELinux. They simply perform two very different functions.

This was first published in February 2007