Lynis is a security auditing for UNIX derivatives like Linux, macOS, BSD, and Solaris. It performs an in-depth security scan on the system itself, with the goal to detect issues and provide tips for further system hardening. It will also scan for general system information, vulnerable software packages, and possible configuration issues. Lynis is commonly used by people in the "blue team" to assess the security defenses of their systems.
We believe software should be simple, updated on a regular basis, and open. You should be able 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.
If you want to run the software as root, we suggest changing the ownership of the files. Use chown -R and chgrp -R to recursively alter the owner and group.
Stable releases of Lynis are packaged and made available as RPM or DEB file. The [CISOfy software repository](https://packages.cisofy.com) can be used to install Lynis on systems running CentOS, Debian, Fedora, OEL, openSUSE, RHEL, Ubuntu, and others.
This software is also available as part of an enterprise solution. It includes additional functionality (plugins, centralized system, reporting, dashboard), and support.
Last years we reached multiple times the top 10 of the yearly ToolsWatch vote for security tool of the year.
[![ToolsWatch Best Tools](https://www.toolswatch.org/badges/toptools/2013.svg)](https://www.toolswatch.org/2013/12/2013-top-security-tools-as-voted-by-toolswatch-org-readers/)
[![ToolsWatch Best Tools](https://www.toolswatch.org/badges/toptools/2014.svg)](https://www.toolswatch.org/2015/01/2014-top-security-tools-as-voted-by-toolswatch-org-readers/)
[![ToolsWatch Best Tools](https://www.toolswatch.org/badges/toptools/2015.svg)](https://www.toolswatch.org/2016/02/2015-top-security-tools-as-voted-by-toolswatch-org-readers/)
We love contributors. Do you have something to share? Or help out with translating Lynis into your own language? Create an issue or pull request on GitHub, or send us an e-mail: lynis-dev@cisofy.com.