VPS Security

Now day’s VPS (virtual private server) security seems to be very important. A concern that is discussed at very high scale by big companies and also by every individual with an online presence. Cyber threats are real and should not be taken lightly. In this article, we will address security measures that should be taken carefully to mitigate cyber threats: -

• Many network administrator uses SSH or secure shell to log in to their servers. SSH is used to manage servers. SSH can be used in brute-force attack. Brute-force attack is a process of submitting passwords and passphrases to guess password. It is always recommended to change default SSH port to customize. Use strong password policies, strong password policy consist of upper and lower-case characters, numbers and special characters.

• Update your software to latest version. Many administrators don’t update because they don’t want to wait. Using old version of software’s makes VPS more vulnerable. You can also automate this process depending on the OS you’re using. In Linux, cron job utility is used on VPS to run on specified time and date.

• Analyzing VPS logs helps you to stay in control. VPS logs shows what’s happening with your VPS. By analyzing VPS systems, you’ll know actual issues and problems. VPS logs helps to track monitor events, traffic levels, user activity and resource usage.

• Consider installing firewall. Firewall provides better security for your VPS. Firewall gives you intuitive interface for managing firewall policies. Configure firewall with following: -

• Filtering traffic that matched your defined pattern.

• Blocking/accessing for suspicious IP addresses.

• Closing unnecessary ports.

• Make a daily audits.

• Updating and preparing with new security challenges.

• Brute-force attacks happen because of weak passwords. Never keep easy passwords that are easy to guess. Password should be easy to remember, hard to guess. Attackers uses large dictionaries containing all the alphabets, numbers and special characters. There are many tools that are used in finding brute-force attacks. In cPanel, cPhulk is used to block logins after several failed login attempts. cPhulk also block failed logins in WHM, FTP and email-based ones.

• Control user access gives authorization to specific resources. Don’t give root access to every user. Tools like SELinux allows admin to control process initializations, file systems and network interfaces.

• Removing unwanted packages/ modules is another way to improve security of VPS. Every package has weakness and administrator should worry about the security of VPS. Install only required packages/ modules that you’re actually using. Avoid installing unnecessary packages/ modules and services, this can invite potential threats.

• Firewall main role is to deny unknown sources of suspicious traffic. Firewall act as first line of defense. But firewall is not fully secure. That’s why you need anti-malware solution for your VPS. Install anti-malware solution to block potential viruses for your VPS.

Conclusion: -

VPS security is very important and should be taken very serious. Following above security measures will help to stop cyber threats on VPS. Connect with HTS Hosting for secure VPS. We provide corporate web hosting, Linux dedicated hosting and other low-cost hosting services.

Source: https://www.htshosting.org/knowledge-base/vps-server/67/vps-security