Lynis is a security auditing tool for systems based on UNIX like Linux, macOS, BSD, and others. It performs an in-depth security scan and runs on the system itself. The primary goal is to test security defenses and provide tips for further system hardening. It will also scan for general system information, vulnerable software packages, and possible configuration issues. Lynis was commonly used by system administrators and auditors to assess the security defenses of their systems. Besides the "blue team," nowadays penetration testers also have Lynis in their toolkit.
We believe software should be simple, updated on a regular basis, and open. You should beable to trust, understand, and have the option to change the software. Many agree with us, as the software is being used by thousands every day to protect their systems.
Goals
The main goals are:
- Automated security auditing
- Compliance testing (e.g. ISO27001, PCI-DSS, HIPAA)
- Vulnerability detection
The software (also) assists with:
- Configuration and asset management
- Software patch management
- System hardening
- Penetration testing (privilege escalation)
- Intrusion detection
Audience
Typical users of the software:
- System administrators
- Auditors
- Security officers
- Penetration testers
- Security professionals
Installation
Git Clone or download the project files (no compilation nor installation is required) ;
- git clone https://github.com/CISOfy/lynis
Demo
Execute:
- cd lynis; ./lynis audit system
If you want to run the software as root, we suggest changing the ownership of the files. Use chown -R 0:0 to recursively alter the owner and group and set it to user ID 0 (root).