Overview of Servers and Data Safety

Servers are the undisputed backbone around which an organization performs all its networking and computing operations. Especially when you are setting up infrastructure, getting your applications up and running without any snags right at the outset is of paramount importance. So much so, making your applications function properly by bypassing server security demands could have devastating repercussions down the line. Certain parameters come into play when you are talking of server security such as—server racks size, type of servers, etc.

List of Safety Practice to Keep the Server Secure

For those on a quest to attain Z-level security for their servers, here is a rundown of some nifty practices that will improve your server’s security by leaps and bounds.

#1. Firewall

In computer terminology a Firewall is a software or hardware solution that controls what services are exposed to the network. Firewalls can efficiently block or restrict access to every port barring those that should be publicly accessible. Furthermore, firewalls ensure that access to your software is impeded by blocking it entirely in most configurations for unused ports. Besides, a firewall solution can make internal services completely inaccessible to the outside world.

#2. Virtual Private Network

A secure private network always trumps a public one for internal communication on many fronts. However, since other users in the confines of the data center can access the same network, the implementation of additional measures to secure communication between your servers is a must.

A virtual private network is a viable choice in such scenarios as it effectively maps out a private network that only your servers can see, thereby, rendering communication to be totally private and shielded. Moreover, by creating an encrypted connection it lends a layer of security when the existing network framework doesn’t suffice.

#3. SSH Keys

These keys are a pair of cryptographic keys that verify to an SSH server as an alternative to password-oriented logins. Prior to the authentication process, a private and public key pair are created. While the public key can be shared with anyone, the private key is kept secure and secret by the user.

#4. Public Key Infrastructure System

This system is designed to create, manage, and authenticate certificates for encrypting communication and identifying individuals. It provides protocols, i.e.—SSL/ TLS certificates that validate different entities to one another. Moreover, they can also be used to establish encrypted communication after validation.

#5. Isolating Execution Environments

In isolated execution environments, individual components are run within their own realm or dedicated space. This implies segregating your distinct application components to their own servers or configuring services to operate in containers or chroot environments. The scale of isolation rests squarely upon your application’s requirements and infrastructure’s prowess.

#6. File Auditing and Intrusion Detection Systems

For keeping your server health in pristine form, you could rely on file auditing and intrusion detection systems. A File auditing system is a software that employs a mechanism that compares the current system against a trove of files and file characteristics of your system for detecting authorized changes. On the other hand, an intrusion detection system tracks a network or system for unauthorized activity.

#7. Service Auditing

This process helps in discovering and listing out services running on the servers in your infrastructure by–analyzing systems, available attack surfaces, and locking down the components. Oftentimes, the default operating system is configured to run certain services at boot.