{"id":2855,"date":"2015-01-23T09:15:05","date_gmt":"2015-01-23T16:15:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jumpcloud.com\/blog\/?p=2855"},"modified":"2024-11-14T12:24:28","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T17:24:28","slug":"server-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/blog\/server-security","title":{"rendered":"Server Security in 3 Steps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Servers located directly on the Internet run one of the highest risks of being compromised. It\u2019s just too easy for hackers to find an open \u201cdoor\u201d or \u201cwindow\u201d into those servers, and then tap into confidential data, systems, and information. Companies can\u2019t afford to put their private information at risk, but an increasing move to cloud-based business solutions<\/a> inherently ups the risk associated with data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news is, if your organization leverages cloud infrastructure there are ways to mitigate the risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It takes vigilance\u2014and constant upkeep\u2014but cloud-based data on Internet-based servers can be just as safe and protected as on-premise servers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this post, we highlight three steps you can take to significantly protect your infrastructure from being compromised, and ensure that you are properly securing your servers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 1 \u2013 Shut Down Access<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n
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As IT admins install appropriate software packages and applications onto servers, invariably ports are opened and services enabled. This makes a security breach for a hacker easier and easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essentially, the more ports and services you tamper with, the more surface area there is available for hackers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depending upon your architecture, see if you can keep ports opened \u201cbehind\u201d the firewall in a VPC environment. This helps ensure that the fewest possible ports are opened to the public facing Internet, but you\u2019re still able to accomplish your job. You can also specify which servers, or services, communicate with your AWS machines if you happen to use them (or with your IaaS provider of choice).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 2 \u2013 Patch Your Servers<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n
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If you have ports or services that are open publicly, it is imperative that they are patched to ensure that you are securing your servers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A patch is an update of software or code designed to fix or solve problems in your computing framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IT admins should be updating patches on their servers<\/a> as often as new data or systems allow them to, in order to have the most risk-mitigated servers attainable. To make effective patches, there are four main steps you can take:<\/p>\n\n\n\n