Tarun Gupta

Top Strategies for Keeping Your Dedicated Server Safe

Tarun Gupta | Oct 28th, 2010 | Web Hosting Resources

Dedicated server hosting solutions offer a big bunch of benefits to businesses irrespective of their size and strength. Despite all the advantages, dedicated servers are very prone to security loopholes that later lead to some major breaches in applications and programs running on the server. Experts suggest numerous security measures to protect servers against con activities.

Dedicated servers are meant to offer a wide variety of services to internal as well as external users and contain a big chunk of sensitive information about the web, emails, infrastructure management, and numerous file servers. It has been seen that dedicated servers are frequently attacked by con users and hackers who could later use them for identity theft. Dedicated servers are prone to the various potential threats both on network and information levels:

  • Malicious hackers may add software bugs to get unauthorized access to the server
  • Attacks on supporting network infrastructure and associated services
  • Unauthorized alteration of data

Let's check out some of the precautions that need to be taken to avoid any potential threat to the dedicated server functioning.

Install only vital services:

Probability of the malicious attacks and security holes increases with the number of ports open for the applications on the server. Since you have no option but to run certain services on the server, keep those services that are vital. For instance, you should rely on SSH rather than Telnet, as the latter can be easily accessed by the cons. Thus web hosting companies suggest you disable your FTP service if you are not using it at a certain moment.

 Firewall Installation

Using firewalls could also be make a better prevention against the attackers on the vital services of the server. Detecting intrusion attempts is the biggest advantage of firewalls. Firewalls act as a wall between the application and external threats. Several such firewalls are available both for Linux and Windows platforms.

 Password Security

The very first thing that you must do is to change the password of your dedicated server. Since your host provider offers you a set of default user names and passwords in non-encrypted text, anyone thus can easily access these details. It's certainly a good practice to change at frequent intervals. You are however recommended to assign separate passwords both for personal and administrative accounts.

Server Monitoring

Monitor your dedicated server against any potential threat and schedule frequent alerts about any server malfunctioning. Several independent services are available to rationalize your server monitoring process. Install some effective security auditing tools to keep vigil on hacking attempts. An expert web hosting company explores good strategies for server monitoring.
 Regular Data Backups:
 Data backups should be maintained to ensure the easy and on-time accessibility of critical data files. These files include the contents of the database, FTP, and other website traffic logs. All configuration files for the web server, email server, and other software should also be kept in a safe place.

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