VPS Security Tips: Prevent Brute Force Attacks On Your VPS

VPS Security Tips: How Can You Prevent Brute Force Attacks On Your VPS?

Wondering how to maximize your VPS hosting security? These days, the chances of getting exposure over the dark web are very high! Virtual private servers with RDP-enabled connectivity possess higher risks of getting compromised due to cyberattacks or unauthorized access! These cyber threats are often called Brute Force Attacks.”

As the server owner, you must impose top-notch security restrictions to secure VPS server. However, protecting your VPS hosting server requires essential security measures and proactive responses. That’s why you must learn the patterns of Brute Force Attacks and the right approach to tackle the future threats your server possesses.

So, let’s learn how to prioritize server security and protect sensitive data against malicious threats!

Understanding VPS Brute Force Attacks

Brute force attacks represent an online hacker's intent to make aggressive and persistent attempts to access the root server. As they keep on submitting multiple passwords or passphrases, they eventually find a way to have unauthorized access to the server. The attacker tries all possible passwords or access keys to find the correct one.

VPS Brute force attacks are common due to open RDP ports. Most online hackers attempt to penetrate server security and run malware using brute-force tools. Once they become successful, they gain complete control over the server system. The picture below represents the flow of how Brute Force Attacks happen.

Most brute force attackers target the root control system to manipulate the server configurations. Indeed, it poses a significant threat to the security of crucial VPS. Especially if your server uses weak credentials or multiple open ports for RDP connectivity, you must take extra precautions for your VPS Security.

Crucial VPS Security Tips: How To Secure My VPS Server?

Protecting your VPS from brute-for-attackers requires security protocols and best practices. Essentially, you must implement the best security strategies that effectively deal with any cyber threat over the internet. Here are the best VPS security tips you can implement in your server configurations!

1. Disable Root Server Logins & Limit Access

Unrestricted control over the server root can lead to unauthorized access. As anyone gets the freedom to access the server root, it is vulnerable to configuration mismatch or security risks. Malicious actors also prefer targeting the root user to gain access to your server configurations.

Turning off the root user login is the best solution to prevent VPS Brute Attacks. You must limit the number of administrators or users with root server access. For the rest of the people, you must turn off root logins. Once you disable the root user, create a dedicated admin account with restricted privileges to control the server operations.

Implementation:

Modify your server configuration file and turn off the user root login by adjusting the corresponding config settings. Consider implementing the SSH Key Authentication to perform secured authentication with your virtual server. So, every time you log in, you use the newly generated SSH key pair to establish server connectivity.

2. Implementing Password Policies For VPS Hosting Security

Passwords are one of the most crucial elements to secure a VPS server. Only a strong password with high complexity can withstand brute attacks. It serves as the primary barrier to stop unauthorized access. So, you must make your website users set only hard-to-guess passwords and implement robust password authentication policies.

Here are a few tips to implement your password policies for VPS hosting security:

• The password must contain complex combinations of letters, numbers, and characters.

• Avoid common words like your name or birth date that are easily identifiable.

• The password length must be at least over eight characters.

• You should use a few special characters and lower/upper cases in the password.

• Enforce a policy that asks users to change their passwords after 30/60/90 days.

• Stop users from reusing their old passwords in a continuous row.

Once you implement these password policies, your users will have solid passwords that are hard for attackers to guess. You should also audit the user logins and identify weak or compromised passwords from the system. Additionally, monitor the number of failed login attempts to identify and mitigate potential VPS Brute attacks.

3. VPS Secure With Firewall Protection

If “how to secure my VPS server” is the primary concern in your head, you must secure the server communication over the internet. Firewalls are essential elements of networking configuration that strengthen your VPS security. They act as the filters between the internet and your server to allow/deny web traffic.

You can set up firewalls either at the server level or at the networking level. Whichever you implement, install malware and other security software in the VPS. Also, select firewalls that have features like deep packet inspection and application-level filtering. Next, configure the firewall rules to handle your server's inbound or outbound traffic. You can safelist the trusted IPs and make sure they bypass the rules while connecting to the server.

4. Secure VPS Server With Two-Factor Authentication

User Authentication is a crucial aspect of VPS hosting security. While there are different authentication methods, you should choose two-factor authentication. It authenticates the user credentials based on two distinct conditions, thus adding an extra layer of verification.

Among the two authentication processes, the first one verifies the user based on a few known elements, like username or account password. For the second process, the authentication happens based on a random number like a dynamic OTP sent to the email or mobile or an authentication code.

Some of the popular methods for two-factor authentication are as follows:

• Time-based OTP or One Time Password

• Authentication app to generate a dynamic code

• Verification through email or mobile

• User sign-ins using passwords

You can quickly implement two-factor authentication to enable users to access your website or web app. It helps prevent unauthorized access through VPS Brute Attacks.

5. Monitor Your VPS Logs & Remove Unwanted Modules/Packages

Server Logs record almost everything that happens! From recording user sign-in timings to recording failed access requests, the server logs contain every critical information you need to stop Brute Attacks. So, you need to pay extra attention to monitor all the logs and find any unusual activity or usage pattern. The faster you find potential security breaches, the easier it is to take early action!

You must also perform security patching of each VPS every month, depending on the latest package releases from the provider. Always run security scanning on the pre-installed software modules and packages to ensure no server vulnerability stays unnoticed. Permanently eliminate the obsolete packages with new modules and maintain stable server health. Indeed, you will make your VPS secure!

Wrap-Up: How Crucial Is VPS Hosting Security?

Remember, VPS security is an ongoing commitment. Today, we discussed the most effective VPS security tips to tackle brute force attacks on your VPS. Indeed, these attacks pose a significant risk to the integrity and availability of your VPS.

We trust this guide has provided valuable insights and actionable steps to bolster your VPS security. So, mitigate the potential security risks your servers currently possess. Regularly assess your security protocols and adopt the right strategies to secure VPS server. Maintain a resilient virtual environment and stay vigilant to shield your VPS from potential threats!