7 Server Security Tips to Secure Your Server

Your online security needs to be completely fortified. You need to keep your website safe by updating your web applications regularly, surrounding your network with firewalls, and take into consideration your server and hosting agent’s security.

These precautions are necessary because your website is prone to attacks, as is the website hosting service that you use. It can be attacked by phishing, viruses, hacking attempts, and intrusions. So your IT department, as well as hosting service, needs to proactively fend off the malicious attacks on your server. At the end of the day, it is a safe assumption that servers contain sensitive information that makes them a target for hacking.

The kind of security you need to put in place depends on which Operating system, server, and host agency you choose. Linux, Microsoft Windows, and Apple will all need a different type of security. In order to keep your server safe, you need to review and configure your setup in depth.

Here are 8 things you can do to ensure server security. You need to ensure complete security by fortifying it from all angles and taking all the necessary steps required.

1. Review the status of your server

Monitoring your routine process regularly can help you nip a problem at the bud before it escalates. To begin with, review the status of your server, and make a note of any problems with the running process, CPU, disk usage, RAM, and any other metrics, as these are the red flags that’ll help you catch any security issues with your server.

It is highly recommended to save site access logs, network service logs, and database logs such as MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, and Oracle. You need to conduct frequent checks on them as well. This will help you in detecting any out-of-place log entries and figure out their cause.

You should use a separate drive to save scripts, which is kept away from your logs, operating system, and other system files. In case a hacker gets hold of your webroot directory, they will not be able to gain server control through an operating system command.

2. Automate your security updates

A majority of vulnerabilities can be invaded within a day. It takes a minimum amount of time to exploit a vulnerability to launch an attack. Hence, it is essential to put automatic security updates in place that also update your security patches as soon as possible to avoid the risk of infiltration.

3. Set up perimeter security with firewalls

Firewalls and border routers can detect known threats, DDoS filters, untrusted networks, bogus IPs, and malicious traffic and keep them at bay. There should be regular monitoring by your firewall for attacks like SSH password guessing and port scans. Web page requests are also filtered by the web application firewall and the malicious ones meant to compromise or break your website are instantly blocked.

4. Security tools

Security tools are usually a part of the webserver software that can be used by administrators to keep your server installation safe. It can take some time to configure these tools, especially with custom web applications. However, at least that will put your mind to rest.

Security checks can be run against network services and open ports by scanners to help keep your web applications and server safe. Areas such as Cross-site scripting, SQL injection, and problems with web server configuration should be checked for vulnerabilities. You could also check forms, automatically audit shopping carts, and if found, flag any issues.

5. Remove unnecessary services

Network configurations and operating system installations are not all that safe. These include Print server service, remote registry service, RAS, etc. The more the services running on your operating server, the more vulnerable it becomes because of all the ports left open to exploit. It is advisable to disable all the services that are unnecessary.

6. Permissions

File and network services permissions will curb the amount of damage inflicted in case your account is hacked. Therefore, your file system permissions must be regularly reviewed. You must allow the least amount of privilege required to run a specific network, and then further put limitations to what service or user can access. Default shells that are not accessed on a regular basis must be disabled and try enabling login with SSH while removing the “root” account.

Any business with online operations needs top-notch server security to keep their business safe, especially the ones that deal with network transactions. This issue just cannot be ignored, and an increasing number of businesses are opting to encrypt communications using HTTPS and SSL certificates.

7. Use private networks and VPNs

You can use a virtual private network (VPN) or private networks to make sure your communication is safe, as well as software like OpenVPN. You can easily limit the number of users who have access to private or virtual private networks, while open networks make your business vulnerable and prone to attack by giving access to the whole outside world.

Isolated communication is established using a private IP between servers within the same range by private networks. This allows several servers with the same account to exchange data and information while being safe from public space.

If you want to use a private network to connect to a remote server, you can choose VPN. It provides a connection that is entirely private and secure. It can also accommodate several remote servers. The servers need to share configuration and security data if they want to use the same VPN to communicate.

Conclusion

Your server security will be fortified after following the security recommendations mentioned in this article. There are some measures that need to put in place while you are setting up the server, while others need to be implemented periodically over a course of time. Choose automated server monitoring, but if that’s not a viable option, you can schedule security checks to keep your server security in top shape.