What is Server Hardening?
Every step we take to improve the security level of a server in a combined form is called Server Hardening. The overall process involves the installation of propitious applications and the uninstallation of any application which has the potential to get compromised.
Why Server Hardening is very important and inevitable?
A new server is like a newborn baby, its health, and performance depends on how you nurture it. Nobody wants their baby to cry, everybody wants their baby to smile, and the same goes for the server.
We get our babies vaccinated to make their immune system as stronger as possible, and this is the smartest decision we make for their long-term health, don’t we? So here we are with the perfect vaccines or you can say with the perfect tools and procedures which will make your server as secure and as robust as it should be.
From the very start of this blog, what I mentioned “vaccinations” for babies, is what we call “Server Hardening” in case of servers. It is not as hard as you ever thought it would be. But, it is something you can’t ignore, or I must say ‘you should not’.
“You want your server to be robust and secure, don’t you? “ I could hear you saying ‘yes’.
So, here we are to build up a strong and secure server as you would want your server to be.
Don’t worry if your server has grown old, we have experts who can still make your server as secure and as robust, as it was supposed to be from the very beginning. Talk to our server experts at the on-demand server administration page, and we can harden your server up real quick.
I know you are with me on the journey to know all those vaccines which we inject into the servers to make them robust and secure. The wait is over, here is the list:-
1. Disable direct root login: The root account is the heart of Linux server that is attacked by most of the hackers to gain SSH access to the server. A Linux server with the enabled SSH root account is always considered to be on a high-risk state. So, disabling the direct root access is one of the best security practices. Below are the steps for the same.
Log in to your Linux server console with a normal account with root privileges by issuing the below commands.
Once you are logged in to server console, open the SSH main configuration file for editing using VI Editor as shown below.
# vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config
In this file, look for the line “PermitRootLogin” and change it to PermitRootLogin no, make sure that there is no hashtag sign (#) at the beginning of this line.
Save and exit the file once you are done with the editing, and then run one of the below commands based on your Linux distribution.
# systemctl restart sshd
# service sshd restart
# /etc/init.d/ssh restart
2. Install SPRI. It changes the priority of different processes in accordance with the level of importance.
3. Install PRM. It monitors your server for processes that use extensive server resources for a prolonged period of time
4. Disable Lamed server logging.
5. Changing the default ssh port.
6. Tweak TCP stack – sysctl.conf.
7. Install Rkhunter and set up weekly Cron.
8. Install Chkrootkit and set up weekly Cron.
9. Disable the dangerous PHP functions.
10. Setup root login alert script.
11. Configure Backup.
12. Changing the permission of /bin/ln
13. A complete scan of the server and based on that the corrective actions are needed.
14. Temporary Directory Hardening:
15. Disable Remote MySQL:
16. Configure a firewall in the server.
17. Configuration of the tools like Sar and Atop to monitor the load of the server.
Conclusion:-
In this article, we discussed; What is Server Hardening? Why Server Hardening is important for any business or any individual? And finally, we walked you through the effective methods of performing Server Hardening.
Most of the servers have vital data that should be available, reachable and at the same time, it needs to be protected from the unauthorized access. This is where server hardening plays a key role. By the end of this article, making your server robust will be a child’s play for you. Do it on your own or feel free to contact us, our server hardening experts will do it for you. Let your server outshine every other server with its unbeatable, unmatchable performance as well as unbreachable security.
Should you have any queries related to the Server Hardening. Write to us in the comments section below.
Author: Shubham