BFD is a modular shell script for parsing applicable logs and checking for authentication failures. There is not much complexity or detail to BFD yet and likewise it is very straight-forward in its installation, configuration and usage. The reason behind BFD is very simple; the fact there is little to no authentication and brute force auditing programs in the linux community that work in conjunction with a firewall or real-time facility to place bans. BFD is available at: R-fx Networks || Linux Software & Blog
This guide will show you how to install and configure BFD to protect your system from brute force hack attempts.
Requirements:
- You MUST have APF Firewall Installed before installing BFD - it works with APF and requires some APF files to operate.
- Root SSH access to your server
Lets begin!
Login to your server through SSH and su to the root user.
1. cd /root/downloads or another temporary folder where you store your files.
2. wget http://www.rfxnetworks.com/downloads/bfd-current.tar.gz
3. tar -xvzf bfd-current.tar.gz
4. cd bfd-0.2You will receive a message saying it has been installed
.: BFD installed
Install path: /usr/local/bfd
Config path: /usr/local/bfd/conf.bfd
Executable path: /usr/local/sbin/bfd
Install path: /usr/local/bfd
Config path: /usr/local/bfd/conf.bfd
Executable path: /usr/local/sbin/bfd
7. Enable brute force hack attempt alerts:
Find: ALERT_USR="0" CHANGE TO: ALERT_USR="1"
Find: EMAIL_USR="root" CHANGE TO: EMAIL_USR="[email protected]"
Save the changes: Ctrl+X then Y
8. Prevent locking yourself out!
pico -w /usr/local/bfd/ignore.hosts and add your own trusted IPs
Eg: 192.168.1.1BFD uses APF' cli insert feature
and as such will override any allow_hosts.rules entries users have in-place.
So be sure to add your trusted ip addresses to the ignore file to prevent
locking yourself out.
9. Run the program!
/usr/local/sbin/bfd -s
