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Registered Member #190
Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 12:00AM
Location:
Posts: 1567
I know so little about server management and how people break into them. Are there any books that teach one on how to run a server at home. Do any go into the details as to how someone breaks into the security?
Registered Member #1403
Joined: Tue Mar 18 2008, 06:05PM
Location: Denmark, Odense C
Posts: 1968
I think it comes down to always have updated software, have a strict firewall policy and know exactly which services are running with external access.
To avoid all this hassle I have put my faith in using a Synology diskstation, they have stepped up security a lot over the last year and it is easy to manage, low power consumption / noise.
Registered Member #65
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 06:43AM
Location:
Posts: 1155
Actually, a problem can be the lack of practical understanding of how these systems work. In general, I often recommend people start by administering a LAMP stack on a hobby VPS ($24/yr), and get a domain name with an anonymous whois record ($12/yr)...
Guidelines: 1. Learn how to backup your data off-line, and use of gpg encryption utilities 2. Only install the bare minimum number of services (a web-server should not have much on it) 3. Learn how to do this stuff on the command line, as desktops or web administration tools open more holes 4. Regularly check /var/log/ , file system signatures, and traffic profiles 5. Eat your own FUD by learning why Redhat/Debian server communities are popular 6. Most technical problems are already solved, but if you have time to write a book... you're likely doing it wrong.... 7. No tool is appropriate for every situation, and different people develop their own recipes for handling different types of problems (firewall rules for example) 8. Test your own equipment with the same annoyances other people use (Dfind, Nessus, and so on...). Your servers will constantly be scanned by bots looking for holes on the Internet (like wordpress/phpmyadmin etc.)... And you can add your own fail2Ban filters to update firewall rules.
Check if the VPS IP you just rented is on the spammer black lists: spamhaus.org
Registered Member #902
Joined: Sun Jul 15 2007, 08:17PM
Location: North Texas
Posts: 1040
As a web hosting provider on the side, and an ethical hacker as my primary profession, I offer my advice below:
First, the points presented above are all valid, especially learning to understand the differences between the distributions and the tool chains.
Updates are paramount, especially with remote services. Firewalls are a must, but only work if the permitted services are not exploitable. However, most of the vulnerabilities found in the wild are now in the Application layer (layer 7 of the OSI model depending on which version you use). It used to be network based, but now frameworks such as Wordpress and management tools are the more popular targets than the servers themselves.
I personally use CentOS / Red Hat, with SElinux contexts set. I have rolled my own recipes all over, as most experienced server admins will do. There is no single way to protect your services that is ideal besides shutting everything off (which would defeat the point of having them in the first place).
Checking your logs is vital, and understanding what they mean. I recommend a log analysis tool. Splunk is free for less than 500 MB of logs a day (and that would be a LOT of logs. I run a hosting provider on the side and mirror a lot of major distributions, and I only recently started hitting that limit). I personally use Kibana4 + Elasticsearch + Log Stash (Kibana 4 has major improvements, so detractors check it out before commenting. I used to be the same way).
Lastly, have an understanding of your services, both technically where you can (how it works), and practically (why is it here). if you don't understand the reason why configuration.php for Joomla needs to be chmod 660 then take the tame ti research it (also, you should be able to answer that 660 might not be ideal for you, as long as the last item is 0 for no permissions for others). This will help you figure out what you really need to lock down your servers.
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running a server and hacking
