In today’s world, technology is continuing to evolve and so is the way of hacking. With hackers closely monitoring the internet for vulnerabilities, every user on the internet is a potential target for attacks. If you own or manage a server, this should be seriously considered whether the websites on the server are big or small because every hosted website has its own values and care should be taken to secure them. One of the areas hackers sneak through is connection. The attack can arise at the time of establishing communication with the server, file transfer, etc.
Well, you need not worry. Here are some ways by which you can secure your server connectivity.
1. Use Secure Connection
When it comes to connecting to a remote server, it’s of high importance to ensure the communication is secure because it’s one of the commonly attacked areas. SSH (Secure Shell) Protocol is an impeccable option for protecting the connection. It also helps in safeguarding all the data you transfer. All you need to do is just install SSH Daemon and create an SSH client for the purpose of issuing commands and managing servers in order to obtain remote access. Port №22 is the default port SSH uses. Since this is obvious for the attackers, the port needs to be changed. You could select any port between 1024 and 32,767.
2. Use SSH Keys authentication
Though password is the commonly used authentication techniques, authentication using SSH keys is fairly better since it boasts more bits when compared to passwords and it’s tougher to crack relatively. SSH keys come with an RSA 2048-bit encryption which is equal to a 617-digit password. SSH key comprises two keys: a public key and a private key. The former has multiple copies out of which one remains on the server and the users share the rest. With a public key, anyone could encrypt data and for a user to read the data, they should have the matching private key which is always kept secure and not shared. This way, only the user with the private key is given access to the server.
3. Use FTPS
The files transferred from and to the server are exposed to stealing and hacks and thus, it’s important to strongly secure them. You could use File Transfer Protocol Secure(FTPS) for this. FTPS helps to encrypt files and your authentication information as well. It uses a command channel and a data channel which can be encrypted by the user. One thing to note is that FTPS secures the files only during transfer and the protection stops once the transfer winds up. Therefore, encrypting the files before the transfer would be a safe option.
4. SSL Certificate
SSL certificate lends a huge hand in safeguarding the information passed during server to client or server to server communication. By scrambling data, an SSL certificate safeguards sensitive information like credentials, card numbers and other personal info. Apart from encrypting data, SSL certificates are also used for user authentication. Server admins can also configure the server to communicate with the authority that issued the SSL certificate
5. Use private networks
Open networks are prone to attacks as it’s accessible by anyone from the outside world. This is why it’s advised to use private networks or VPN for the sake of security. VPN secures connectivity by restricting network access. This is done by using a private IP which makes it possible to make communications through a virtual private channel, thus concealing the data from the public space.
