14 Ways To Secure A Dedicated Server June 2025
#14 Ways To Secure A Dedicated Server Hosting in 2025
Securing a dedicated server involves implementing technical and procedural measures to protect it from unauthorized access, data breaches, and other cyber threats.
By following the best practices outlined in this article, you can significantly enhance the security posture of your dedicated server.
1. Keep Your Server-Updated
Regularly updating your server’s operating system, firmware, and software is vital to protect it against known vulnerabilities.
Software updates often include security patches and bug fixes that address potential weaknesses in the system.
2. Implement Strong Password Policies
Implementing strong password policies is one of the simplest yet most effective ways to secure a dedicated server.
Encourage users to create complex passwords that combine uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters.
Enforce password expiration and prevent the reuse of old passwords.
3. Utilize Firewall Protection
A firewall is a barrier between your dedicated server and the outside world, monitoring and controlling network traffic.
Configure a firewall to allow only necessary connections and block unauthorized access attempts. Review firewall rules to ensure they align with your server’s security requirements.
4. Enable Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems
Intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDPS) help identify and block suspicious activities on your server. These systems monitor network traffic and log any potential security threats. Configure IDPS to detect and respond to malicious behavior promptly.
5. Encrypt Data in Transit and at Rest
Encrypting data is essential to protect it from unauthorized access. Implement secure protocols, such as SSL/TLS, to encrypt data transmitted between the server and clients. Additionally, encrypt sensitive data stored on the server’s hard drives using robust encryption algorithms.
6. Set Up Regular Backups
Regularly backing up your dedicated server’s data ensures you can recover from potential security incidents or data loss.
Implement a comprehensive backup strategy that includes both full backups and incremental backups. Store backups in secure off-site locations or use cloud-based backup services.
7. Limit Access with Secure User Authentication
Implement strict access control measures to limit user access to the server. Grant privileges only to authorized users and ensure they have unique login credentials. Regularly review and update user access permissions based on the principle of least privilege.
8. Utilize Two-Factor Authentication
Enhance the security of your dedicated server by implementing two-factor authentication (2FA). 2FA adds an extra layer of security by requiring users to provide a second form of verification, such as a unique code generated on a mobile device, in addition to their password.
9. Monitor Server Logs
Regularly monitor server logs to identify any suspicious activities or security breaches. Logs can provide valuable insights into potential security incidents, allowing you to take immediate action and mitigate risks.
10. Secure Network Connections
Secure the network connections to your dedicated server using encrypted protocols, such as SSH (Secure Shell) or VPN (Virtual Private Network).
These protocols protect data transmitted between remote systems and your server from eavesdropping and tampering.
11. Regularly Scan for Vulnerabilities
Perform regular vulnerability scans on your dedicated server to identify potential weaknesses in the system. Use reputable vulnerability scanning tools to assess your server’s security posture and promptly address any identified vulnerabilities.
12. Keep Software and Applications Up to Date
Ensure that all software and applications running on your dedicated server are up to date. Outdated software may contain known vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit. Regularly check for updates from software vendors and apply patches promptly.
13. Use Secure File Transfer Protocols
When transferring files to and from your dedicated server, use secure protocols such as SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) or FTPS (FTP Secure). These protocols encrypt data during transit, preventing unauthorized access or interception.
14. Employ DDoS Mitigation Measures
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks can disrupt the availability of your dedicated server. Implement DDoS mitigation measures, such as traffic filtering and rate limiting, to minimize the impact of such attacks and ensure uninterrupted service.
That covers some of the main ways to secure dedicated server. Following these practices can help protect your data and minimize the risk of outages and breaches. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Dedicated Server Security Best Practices
Organizations all over the world, regardless of their size and industry, require a dedicated server for the best operations in their business. That would give them a lot of benefits like providing the customers satisfactory and excellent practices and having a competitive edge over their competitors.
However, a security breach or attempt by hackers to compromise the dedicated server can be a nightmare for its owners. This attempt is done to deface the websites or applications and to steal valuable data from a dedicated server. Common security threats to the dedicated server like unauthorized access and improper usage can lead to loss of revenue in case of an ecommerce website or a financial institution or loss of important and sensitive data in case of corporate or government websites.
The best practice to keep your dedicated server safe is to protect it from malware or ransomware from hackers and other unethical users.
Why Dedicated Server Security Is Important?
Dedicated servers are entirely at your service. You can configure and choose the resources like OS, RAM, storage, and bandwidth as you like. However, this extreme control comes with a little liability marking the importance of setting up a perfect security system for your dedicated server. Here are some important reasons why you should take the security of your dedicated server very seriously.
Protecting servers from malware attack:
Hackers can inject malware into your dedicated server anytime to steal valuable data. This is generally hidden and injected with legitimate applications or scripts. After the malware is on your server, it is easy for the hackers to collect sensitive information from your server. You should choose such a hosting provider who will offer ongoing scanning for any vulnerable malware attack and real-time server monitoring.
Stop password breaches:
Short, and weak passwords are one of the main reasons for security breaches. When you acquire the dedicated server from your host, immediately change the password as default passwords set by your service providers increase the risk of vulnerabilities. Passwords with a random combination of numbers, letters, and symbols will be hard for hackers to break. Choose different passwords for the FTP account, control panel, and email servers. Changing them frequently will keep you more on the safe side.
Protect servers from software vulnerabilities:
Hackers can exploit the software on your dedicated server to get access. Outdated software is more prone to such attacks; so, only install software that gets regular updates. Also, run software with the latest security patches.
Avoid DDoS attacks:
A DDoS attack can cause dedicated server failure and unavailability for your legitimate users during peak hours of traffic. It can also lead to waste of your server resources, and flood your server with false traffic.
Ways To Secure Your Dedicated Server
Keeping your dedicated server secure is important for business enterprises to avoid exposing sensitive data to malware, ransomware attacks, and viruses. As a general rule, dedicated servers are considered more secured than shared servers. However, you, as a dedicated server client, undergo a serious security check to keep your server protected and to get peace of mind. Follow the below procedures to protect your rented dedicated server from multiple vulnerabilities.
Update The Software
Outdated software increases the chance of security threats from hackers. Most server hosting providers release regular software updates and patches to fix any issue with the software. Never trust outdated services and programs, and never skip downloading those patches.
Even a small delay to update your software to its newest version can be dangerous. If you find downloading and installing security patches to the software a tedious job without any dedicated resource team, consider hosting on a managed dedicated server.
Conduct Malware Scans
You never know when viruses, trojans, worms, and spyware can affect your system to steal sensitive customer data and copy your most confidential databases. To stay on the safe side, you should set a regular time to perform regular scans for malware. Anti-virus software can be a precautionary measure to keep the malicious software away.
Use DDoS Protection
A distributed denial of service attack can bring down your hosted application or website or entire dedicated server. It can also send a sudden burst of false traffic to your dedicated server; as a result, it can crash at peak hours. It is highly suggested to protect your dedicated server from DDoS attacks.
A DDoS-protected dedicated server is the only feasible way to do so. This dedicated server has an integrated DDoS shield monitoring all incoming traffic. Whenever any malicious traffic is noticed, that connection request is diverted from your server. Not only that, a DDoS shield safely allows your legitimate viewers to reach your server.
Use Trusted Networks
While logging into your hosting account, use only secure connections. Generally, public networks like a hotel, railway stations, or an airport are not considered highly safe as your server credentials might get exposed there. Choose only trusted networks to stay safe.
Change The SSH Port Of Your Server
SSH ports are used to run many services. Those SSH ports are an easy target for hackers to breach into your dedicated server. This happens as the SSH listening port is the most vulnerable part. It is set to 22 by default, so the hackers use scanning software to look for those dedicated servers where that number has not been changed.
To prevent that attack, immediately change your SSH port. You can choose any number; however, it is advised to choose a number higher than 1024. Most hackers use scanners and operate within a set range and generally don’t scan above 1024. As a result, your SSH port is safe from automated scanners and bots.
Create Separate Accounts For All Users
Only the system administrator should have root access to your dedicated server. Apart from the system administrator, anyone using that server should have their user account with restricted privileges. For example, every user shouldn’t get permission to install software leading to malware. It is secure to give such permissions to system administrators. Other users should be given separate accounts to perform their daily operations. Except that, admins are recommended to use personal accounts too, in case they forget to log out from the admin account.
Adopt A Strict Password Policy
Weak passwords make your dedicated server more risk-prone to any type of attack. You should create a strong password using random symbols, and numbers, containing uppercase and lowercase letters. Never use personal data like your name, phone number, username, or email address as a password. Ask your team with user accounts to follow the same practice. Furthermore, change your passwords regularly after some days or once a month. This step will confuse the hackers and they won’t be able to get to your password. Considering a two-factor authentication will be an added shield to your dedicated server.
Protect Your Databases
Tables of your databases contain sensitive information. The hackers try their best to target those databases using SQL injections. An SQL injection can insert malicious SQL statements manipulating the data in your database. To protect your dedicated server from SQL injections, limit access of users to your dedicated server. Deleting unused services and files is a good way to protect your server from this type of mishap.
Backup Your Data
Generating a backup of the important data on your server is a good practice to add another feather to the security measures of your dedicated server. Backing up your data is a nice habit as anytime you can experience data loss from hardware failure, malware attack by a hacker, or even a natural disaster. The 3-2-1 data backup strategy is best. It means to take at least 3 backups and save them on 2 different storage units.
Remove Unused Software
Unused software can increase vulnerabilities. With time, unused software gets erased from the mind of users for non-using, and no update or patch is available for that. Hackers can access your dedicated server through the path of unused software. Just remove unused software to stay safe.
Choose A Managed Dedicated Server
Implementing all the above guidelines can be challenging if you don’t have any dedicated team of IT resources. The easiest way to secure your dedicated servers is to ask your hosting provider to offer a managed dedicated server. Here your hosting provider will keep your software up to date, back up your data at a regular interval, and install a DDoS shield on your behalf. You just take care of some specific security means like changing passwords of various accounts.
Maintain A Security Protocol
A daily routine helps to manage any task more efficiently. The task of keeping your dedicated server safe and more secured is no exception. Establish a chain of roles or commands, and protocol among your team to perform all the above-mentioned functions. Also, you must have a ready plan in case you experience an unwanted security breach to your dedicated server.
Conclusion
Security of data in your dedicated server is the first step for your successful and secure business. Now it is clear how you can ensure the safety of your dedicated servers. However, to implement the above steps you need dedicated IT resources or ask for a fully managed dedicated server with exclusive 24/7 customer support from your service provider.
The Author
I believe in creating enriching content that is readable and interesting. I work on content related to web hosting, SEO, Ecommerce and social media. Putting things across with the power of words and crafting useful content are my prime objectives.
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