VPS Security Tips: How to Protect Yourself from Hackers
VPS is a widely used hosting option for growing businesses. It is ideal for anyone who has outgrown their shared hosting plan. And through server virtualization, every user hosted on a virtual server gets a set of dedicated resources.
For example, you select a VPS Hosting plan with 100 GB storage, 4 GB RAM, and 4 CPU cores. These resources will be allocated to you, and no other website hosted on that server will have access to them.
While VPS hosting provides good website performance, it has security advantages too. In this article, we explore the different features and best practices to keep your VPS secure.
Built-in VPS Hosting Security Features
Isolation through Hypervisor
On a VPS setup, a software called hypervisor partitions each website resources. Its primary function is to create virtual machines (VM). So, if there are 15 websites on a VPS server, every website is an individual VM.
The virtual machines are independent of each other. In fact, they cannot even recognize that there are other machines available.
The security advantage here is that there is no spill over effect, meaning that each virtual machine does not impact each other.
Root access
Root access refers to the highest level of access that a user can have in Linux.
These are users who have unhindered, complete access to all the files on a server. As each VM is a small server, root access can be granted.
Root access allows you to make critical configuration changes, ensure greater website security, install third-party applications, and customize your server exactly how you want.
3 Ways to Secure Your VPS Server
1. Use third-party security applications
There is a complete host of third-party security applications available. Each app has a particular area of focus. For example, there are apps tailored to prevent DDoS (Denial of Service) attacks.
While it may seem tempting to use all of them, the better approach here would be to use one or two feature-rich applications.
2.Close unused ports and change default ports
Cyberattacks have become heavily automated these days. Bots carry out maximum attacks on websites.
One website vulnerability that often gets exploited are default security configurations. For example, moving SSH off the default port 22 will deter attackers.
To change the default port, you will need root access to your server:
- Login using root access and use SSH to connect your server
- Open the sshd_config file using a text editor like WordPad or Notepad.
- Go to the line specifying “Port 22” and change it to the port number you want to use instead.
- Save changes when closing the file editor and restart using the following commands:
For CentOS/Fedora: “service sshd restart”
For Debian/Ubuntu: “service ssh restart”
Also, it is good to take note of various open and unused ports in your network. We recommend closing all the open ports that you are not using.
3.Create an access hierarchy
One of the biggest advantages of choosing VPS Hosting is that you can customize the server exactly in the way you want.
But this can even become a problem if several users work on one server. They may end up deleting important files or tinker with your configurations.
VPS lets you create an access hierarchy for each user on your VPS server. With this, you can set roles and specific access levels instead of the entire server.
Get Secure, Feature-Rich VPS Hosting Today
VPS is a secure option to host your website. It does not compromise the website’s security and performance, making it a top choice for most business and personal websites that need additional security options.
BigRock offers a high-performing and customizable Linux VPS Hosting with full-root access, instant provisioning, high-speed SSD storage and powerful add-ons for backing up and upgrading storage at an affordable price.
