One of the first and foremost steps you can take to secure your server is to install and run an antivirus program. Computer viruses can harm your server in many different ways. It can corrupt your server’s system files, rendering it completely unusable. It can allow unauthorized access, regardless of other security measures in place. It can even turn your server into a source of spam, illegal software and even spread virus infections itself.

 

Antivirus software is designed to detect these viruses that attempt to infiltrate a server. Whenever a file is accessed or saved on your server, the antivirus program checks its code against a database of known viruses. If it finds a match, the program can lock down the infected file, delete it outright, or sometimes clean the viral code from it completely. Because the program checks for viruses against a known database, it is very important to maintain this virus database, known as virus definitions. Most reputable antivirus companies release updates to these definitions very often, providing protection as soon as the viruses are discovered and identified.

 

 

Another very important program that can be installed on your server to improve security is known as a firewall. A firewall is able to block unwanted traffic to your server outright. Internet traffic is sent through the network as packets. These packets are sent to a given port on a given machine, and destined for a specific application, such as the web server, or an FTP server. A firewall intercepts these packets, and based on the set of rules that are in place, will either reject or pass on the packets to their proper application.

 

Depending on the operating system of the server, you have a variety of options available to you. Most firewalls can be configured with a set of rules. These rules can restrict traffic and allow exceptions, or allow traffic and block specific senders or applications. The former is the preferred security method: blocking traffic across the board, and then making specific allowances for certain senders, applications or ports. This setup keeps random connection attempts from even reaching the server and using up resources.

 

 

Operating systems  and applications installed on a server can be very complex. Many different applications and services run side-by-side and connect to each other in many different ways. Attackers can attempt to exploit these applications and services, and their connections within a system.  Most of the time, the systems are programmed well enough that these exploits aren’t able to be used harmfully. However, occasionally attackers may be able to identify a weakness in coding and use it to harm or compromise a server. As these weaknesses are identified, the software developer releases critical or security updates that fix, or ‘patch’, the applications’ coding so that it can no longer be exploited. Depending on the operating system, the updates may or may not be automatic, or may require additional action on your part to implement properly. Therefore, an important part of securing your server is taking the necessary steps to ensure that you check for these security updates, and download and install them as often as possible.

 

 

One tactic that Internet attackers like to try to use is what’s called a brute force attack, or a related dictionary attack. The tactic of these attacks is to use trial-and-error and a large list of potential passwords in an attempt to guess the proper log in credentials. It is therefore important to only utilize passwords that are considered ‘strong’, making it difficult for these types of programs to guess.

 

A strong password is typically 10-14 characters long, and contains a random mix of lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers and symbols. It is important to try to avoid patterns and names, or any identifiable information. The more of a pattern is present, the easier a brute-force attack will be able to crack it.

 

 

 

These four steps are the most important steps to maintaining a secure server. An antivirus program with the latest virus definitions, a secure and well-configured firewall, a strong set of log in passwords, and an up-to-date operating system and application set all go a long way to preventing attackers from compromising your system.