How to Add Security to Your Dedicated Server? Best Practices in 2022!

Dedicated Server
credit: eltris.com

When you decide to start your hosting journey, there are a lot of things that you should keep in mind, such as choosing the best hosting type for your site, building your website, and securing your files and data. Your highest concern should be to secure dedicated servers in which you host your site. Unprotected dedicated servers can result in security vulnerabilities, information leakage, and malfunctions.

Best Practices to Secure Dedicated Servers

Cyberattacks are becoming more common every year, so dedicated hosting security has never been more important than now. In this article, we’ll look at the best practices for protecting dedicated servers from them.

1.      Purchase a Managed Dedicated Server

Choosing a managed dedicated server is the simplest approach to protect your server. The majority of hosting companies provide this service. One of them is the popular hosting company – InterServer. If you want to learn more about it, feel free to check the comprehensive InterServer hosting review.

Essentially, managed dedicated servers are run by a group of IT specialists who will maintain all of your databases and software up to date, regularly back up your data, and actively check for suspicious activities. The hosting company will take care of every aspect of security protocols.

2.      Create a Different Account for Every User

The dedicated server should only allow full access to the system manager. Each user of the server should be given their own account with only the necessary permissions. Software that might be malware shouldn’t be accessible to everyone. Only the server administrator should have access to these credentials. The administrator may also have a private account. It is not recommended to always log in with system privileges in case you forget to sign out of the administrator account.

3.      Use Only Reliable Networks

Use only encrypted channels to log into your account page while accessing your dedicated server. Public networks are risky, and the strength of your network’s strongest link significantly affects your dedicated hosting account’s security. Your login information could be made public if you join an open WiFi network at a restaurant, for example, to log in. You should, therefore, only use reliable networks.

4.      Install Security Updates

Hackers frequently take advantage of outdated software. Most app developers regularly publish security updates that address any flaws in the safety of their programs. If you don’t install some of these upgrades, someone might exploit a flaw that is left unpatched. Never rely on services or programs that are out of date. It can be bad to postpone the update. You should, therefore, regularly check for software upgrades.

5.      Remove Unused Software

A vulnerability is an unutilized software. It’s simple to ignore, and if you don’t open it, it won’t get security upgrades. This is particularly the case for applications and websites that you use just once. Hackers might exploit the unused software, breach your dedicated server and steal your data. Disposing of unused software is the only answer.

6.      Backup Your Data

Always back up your vital files, or back up everything. You’ll probably experience data leakage at a certain point. No matter how many security precautions you put in place, something can still go wrong—whether it’s because of a hacker assault, malfunctions, or a natural disaster. The 3-2-1 data backup technique is the greatest backup procedure you can apply. A minimum of three backups should be created and stored on two separate storage media. In other words, never store all of the backups together. At least one should be away. You will lose it all if every backup is located inside a collapsing structure.

7.      Use DDoS Protection

It’s critical to prevent DDoS assaults since they turn your website or web apps unavailable to customers. Fortunately, you can do so by acquiring a DDoS guarded dedicated server. Such hosting providers include built-in DDoS protection that monitors all traffic. Connection requests are redirected away from your server when harmful traffic is found. Additionally, valid traffic is allowed to proceed, ensuring that your users won’t encounter any disruptions.

A great choice for a web host with DDoS protection would be Hostinger.

8.      Make Password Policy

Your dedicated server is more prone to hacker attacks if you use a weak password. Avoid using sensitive words that are simple to guess as your password. Each person needs to have a strong password. All passwords should also be constantly changed every predefined number of days. This eliminates the possibility of hackers brute-forcing your password or breaking into your account. You can even add two-factor authentication to boost the security of your Dedicated server.

9.      Change the SSH Port

If your host has set the SSH port to 22 by default and hasn’t modified it, a hacker might easily exploit this issue.Change your SSH port to stop attacks. Change it to a bigger number than 1024 if possible. Port scanners typically work within predefined ranges and barely scan above 1024. Due to this, bots and hackers won’t find your SSH port that easily.

10.  Provide Regular Scans

You should take some time to do periodic malware scans in order to protect your dedicated server. Anti-virus software may identify and isolate bad software before it causes harm, making using it a smart preventative strategy.

Conclusion

After reading this article, we hope you will be more aware of the best practices you should take if you want to protect your Dedicated server. You don’t need to use every solution we provided above, but use at least some of them.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *