Securing Your New Dedicated Web Hosting Plan From Attack
Published by Fred at August 8th, 2009Congratulations, you have your own dedicated web server! Now all you have to do is secure it against the attack of thousands of would-be hackers so that all of your hard work doesn’t go to waste. Following simple tips and guides, the process won’t be too stressing for you.
Any time you give someone access to your dedicated server, you are allowing one more way into your secure information. Even if the person is trusted, things such as social engineering can pry passwords away from someone quite surprisingly. Essentially you want to limit anyone who has access to not only your server, but to any serve your server offers to others.
The modules on your server are an easy way to find entry if your modules aren’t updated. Modules are additions to your server that are used to increase the functionality. This could be an example of a programming language, for instance. If a patch comes out for your module, never hesitate to download it. Not doing so could seal your fate as a webmaster and as a security administrator.
The languages you support will be your down fall if you don’t know how to code in them. Languages are so powerful that you can easily delete your entire website with a single line of code, depending on which language you are using. Obviously there should be security measures in place to not allow regular website users to execute such code. Something such as the SQL injection is something to avoid.
It’s not always about what you have on your server, but rather what you don’t have. It’s good practice to delete any modules you aren’t using, and to close all ports you are sure that you will not be using in the future. The reasoning behind this is that if you have a spare module you don’t pay attention to, a user could take advantage of your lack of awareness and take advantage of a security exploit in an older version of the module.
If all else fails, you should always have a backup to rely on. A backup should be made periodically so that if something does happen, you always have a method of getting all of your files back. This is especially important for databases, which can easily become corrupt even without outside interference. Some servers even come with a separate storage disk solely for such recovery backups.
Closing Comments
Web hosting is a business that requires attention to detail. You can tackle your security problems by updating all your modules, cutting those you don’t use, and carefully programming your website to be free of bugs. Nothing is 100% secure, so also make use of backups in the case of an accident.
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