TIPS & TRICKS

12 Ways To Secure Your Servers

4. Add security software

An exception to the "keep it simple" tip is installing security software to detect and remove infections. Security software may include anti-virus, anti-root kit, and anti-spyware filters and scanners, plus a firewall to defeat unauthorized access. It's also a good idea to install intrusion detection and prevention software to guard against denial-of-service attacks and ensure the integrity of your system files.

5. Clean up after installation

When you install multiple applications, you may end up with a number of sample files, scripts, code, and directories: hackers like to hide malware in them -- delete them!

6. Be password smart

The rule of thumb on passwords has long been eight characters. However, utilities can now attempt at least a million possible passwords per second; at that rate, an eight-character lowercase password can be cracked in 59 hours. Using uppercase letters and numbers ups the ante, but hackers will continue to wield more computational power. Though there is no unbreakable password security, you can avoid being an easy target with these measures:

Require user passwords to be at least 12 characters long and include uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and shift characters (such as @, &, or %).

Don't use so-called "dictionary words" as passwords. These include common misspellings, clever misspellings, expletives, slang, digital slang like ROTFL (rolling on the floor laughing), and commonly used foreign words.

Do not create a password by adding a number to the end of a previous password; however, adding numbers in the middle of the word is permissible.

Don't allow users to recycle previously used passwords.

Don't allow passwords that are derived from birthdays, anniversaries, pet names, children's names, or any other publically available personal information.

If your server operating system has a feature requiring password changes after a selected time limit, use it. A common time limit is 42 days.

7. Quarantine incoming material

To minimize the impact of denial-of-server attacks and other intrusions, place your system files on a separate drive or partition from uploaded files. You can also cap the amount of disk space available to uploaded files and inspecting uploads before making them visible to the server's system to ensure your system is not being used as a cache by hackers. Another alternative is disallowing file uploads entirely.

8. Carefully consider lockouts

Most server operating systems allow you to lock an account after a certain number of unsuccessful log-on attempts within a certain time; for example, three unsuccessful attempts within 30 minutes results in a 30-minute lockout. This can help thwart some attacks. Be aware that some legitimate users will lock themselves out of their own accounts on occasion. In a small organization, this is not usually an issue, but in a larger organization may burden the support organization with requests for administrators to unlock accounts.

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