Leaking valuable customer data is never good for any business—apart from harming your brand image, it can also lead to severe legal consequences. Hence, the protection of VPS servers is essential, especially considering the VPS server cost involved.
Virtual Private Servers are popular for hosting websites, applications, and essential business processes simply as they need scalability and control. However, with this ease comes responsibility, as the cheapest Linux VPS servers are prime targets of hackers. Your server might be at risk due to the misconfigurations. Thus, you need some proactive security tips to safeguard your server against unauthorized access, data breaches, or any type of malicious attack that would leave your operations disabled. In this article, we will discuss the most common vulnerabilities and the best VPS practices to fortify your server against potential attacks.
What is VPS Security?
VPS security involves implementing preventive strategies to protect a VPS environment from online threats and illicit access. Due to its virtual nature, VPS also exposes clients to many security risks.
Securing the VPS means configuring the server’s operating system, deployed applications, and network connections. This consists of access credentials, firewall setup, software update application, traffic monitoring, and other relevant operations. By learning some fundamental VPS security techniques, you can create a sturdy foundation for the safety of your website data and ensure that your server operates properly.
Best VPS Security Tips
1. Configure Web Application Firewall (WAF)
A web application firewall acts as a primary line of defense, blocking suspicious traffic before it reaches your server. It proactively monitors for malicious activity using predefined security rules, which it then filters or blocks to prevent an attack.
Why is it essential?
A WAF defends against common online threats, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and malware by filtering malicious traffic.
How to deploy?
Deploy and configure ModSecurity or CloudFlare VPS, popular WAF solutions, depending on the requirements of your VPS. Further, you can create rules for enhanced security.
Additional Benefits
WAF offers visibility into attack patterns, allowing you to recognize and minimize potential risks.
2. DDoS Protection
A DDoS (Distributed Denial-of-Service) attack has the potential of bringing your server down by flooding it with excessive traffic. An ideal DDoS-protected VPS filters genuine traffic while blocking illegal access.
Why is it essential?
VPS downtime due to DDoS attacks may lead to revenue loss, harm to reputation, and reduced user trust.
How to deploy?
Use third-party services like Cloudflare or AWS Shield to monitor and classify DDoS attacks. Combine these with rate limitations and traffic monitoring tools for the least exposure.
Additional benefits
Several DDoS protection solutions also offer analytics to identify and mitigate potential vulnerabilities that can be used in an attack.
3. Implement SSH Security
Secure Shell, or SSH, is the primary way of remotely accessing your VPS. Securing SSH avoids illicit access and boosts VPS security.
Why is it essential?
Poorly configured SSH ranks among the most common entry points of brute-force attacks.
How to deploy?
- Change the default SSH port from 22 to some unusual port.
- Deactivate root login and a user with restricted SSH access.
- Use SSH key authentication instead of passwords for unbeatable performance.
Additional Benefits
SSH works to reduce the attack surface, making it very difficult for hackers to get in.
4. Enable Two-factor Authentication (2FA)
With two-factor authentication, entering login credentials involves an advanced level of verification to establish an additional layer of security.
Why is it essential?
Cybercriminals can’t access a system or account without a secondary authentication factor, even with a compromised login credential.
How to deploy?
Activate 2-factor authentication for your VPS control panel by using an authenticator app. You can use popular authenticators such as Google Authenticator or hardware tokens like YubiKey.
Additional Benefits
2-Factor Authentication significantly reduces the risk of phishing attacks compromising your account.
5. Use Malware Scanner
Scanning your VPS for malware regularly enables you to identify and remove malicious files or scripts before they cause any harm.
Why is it essential?
A malware attack could impact the productivity and efficiency of your server, snatch data, or interrupt services. Linux supports numerous malware scanners, which you can seamlessly deploy manually via Terminal. These tools interface makes it manageable even for users with less technical expertise.
How to deploy?
Configure malware scanning on systems like ClamAV or MalwareBytes, enabling auto-scanning and alerts for suspicious activity.
Additional Benefits
Various malware scanners offer real-time monitoring, enabling you to mitigate threats proactively.
6. Perform Security Backups
Backups are like insurance against intrusion, cyberattack, or operating system failure. They enable you to restore your server to its previous state instantly.
Why is it essential?
Without a reliable backup plan, data loss due to ransomware, hardware failure, or human error can be disastrous.
How to deploy?
Tools such as Veeam or Bacula can automate the backup process seamlessly. Backups should be taken off-site or moved to the cloud.
Additional Benefits
Periodic backups ensure speedier disaster recovery with minimal time and data loss.
7. Install SSL
An SSL certificate encrypts the data between your server and users, blocking unauthorized access. Installing SSL also boosts clients’ trust in your website.
Why is it essential?
Without SSL, sensitive information such as logins or commercial data can be compromised.
How to deploy?
First, obtain an SSL certificate from a reliable provider like MilesWeb. Then, install and configure it for all web applications on your VPS.
Additional Benefits
Deploying an SSL certificate can raise the ranking of a website within the search engine’s results page. It also nurtures trust among the client’s minds through a secure padlock depicted on the browser.
Conclusion
Understanding VPS security tips is crucial nowadays, as a cyberattack can happen within seconds. Implementing the best VPS security tips— such as deploying a web application firewall, enabling 2FA, and scheduling backups—can substantially contribute to enhancing the server’s stability.
Proactive security measures not only protect your website data but also verify the reliability and integrity of your online presence. However, by choosing a reliable VPS hosting provider such as MilesWeb and following these techniques, you can effectively safeguard your VPS environment from cyber threats.
