this is a pretty good article that is a little dated, but still very informative at freeos.com.
since this is Network Security for Dummies Q&A, maybe this should be the first step for unix.com users to check for general and more specific info on how to 'harden' their linux box.
some of this info applies to other OS's aswell:
Titan is an opensource utility that can be a good initial lockdown for Linux and other systems. They also have a nice page that goes over some of the things the script actually does:
I think that it is important to look at the security from more than just a host perspective. Let's harden the system and drop a HIDS (Host based IDS), but also not forget watching our network as well. I've used Snort and the front end ACID with good success.