How to Install Lynis for Security on Ubuntu 22.04

Lynis is the CLI tool that is used for security auditing, system hardening, detecting vulnerabilities, etc. It scans the complete system to evaluate the vulnerabilities, configuration errors, service security, improper file system permissions, etc. You can use this system security-auditing tool on both macOS and Linux.

Lynis helps you to keep the system clean, secure, and invulnerable to improve the system’s performance. However, Lyns is more than what you think because setting up Lynis in Linux is tricky. In this tutorial, we will explain how to install and set up Lynis on Ubuntu 22.04.

How to Install Lynis for Security on Ubuntu 22.04

Installing Lynis on Ubuntu is simple and easy since multiple methods exist. Hence, let’s discuss all these methods:

Install Lynis from the Official Repository of Ubuntu

First, update the system as per the latest updates available for Ubuntu 22.04:

Once you are done, run the following command to install the official repository of Lynis:

Install the Stable Version of Lynis

If you want to download the stable and latest version of Lynis, run the following command to retrieve the GPG key:

After running the previous command, add the GPG key through the following command:

Once you are done, refresh the APT by executing the following command:

Finally, install the Lynis in your system:

How to Use Lynis in Ubuntu

Let’s start the process by checking the currently available version of Lynis in the system:

You can also run the following command to display all the available options and commands for Lynis:

Now, we can perform the system security auditing by executing the following command:

After the successful audit, the system saves the scan report in the /var/log/lynis-report.dat. Hence, you can check the report by running the following command:

We used the words like warning and suggestion to get a brief detail about the system.

How to Uninstall Lynis

If you want to uninstall Lyins, you can run the following command in the terminal:

Moreover, you can remove all the Lynis-related logs through the following command:

Conclusion

This tutorial is about the simple ways to install Lynis for security on Ubuntu 22.04. Lynis is an essential tool to get more details about the system. We explained the different ways to install Lynis and a simple approach to perform the system auditing right from the terminal. Furthermore, we also briefed you about the method to quickly install Lynis.