Getting your applications up and running is usually a primary concern when setting up an infrastructure. However, making sure that your applications function correctly without addressing the security needs of the infrastructure can often lead to devastating consequences down the line.
With cybercrime on the rise, it’s becoming more and more important for businesses of all sizes to ensure that they take as many protective measures as possible to ensure that their business server is secure. In this guide, we’ll take a look at some of the most important basic security practices that are important to implement before or as you set up your infrastructure applications.
Password Manager
Making sure that all passwords are strong and difficult to guess is crucial when it comes to server security. Implementing a server password manager is a good way of ensuring that hackers find it near impossible to access unauthorised accounts.
When it comes to password management, it’s also important that you fully train your staff on not only using strong passwords that aren’t easily guessed, but also about keeping them safe and secure.
One of the biggest causes of security breaches is unauthorised personnel accessing employee passwords which have been left written down in notebooks, on post-it notes etc. Using a password manager application can ensure that all passwords are kept secure and only accessible by those who have authorisation.
Read: Have you messed with the passwords? The browser keeps it for you
Firewall
A firewall is a piece of software or hardware which controls what services can be exposed to the network. On a typical server, a firewall will usually be running by default, blocking or restricting access to any port which is not publically available.
However, firewalls can fall into different categories and because of this, you should never assume that your firewall is set up to provide the level of security that you need. As you set up your applications, make sure that your firewall is configured to block or allow whatever is needed.
Firewalls can ensure that access to your server and software is restricted according to public, private and internal services. Whilst public services can be left open to anyone, private services can be blocked based on a range of different authorisation criteria, and internal services can completely block out the outside world.
Private Networks
For security purposes, many business owners prefer to set up a VPN or private network. Private networks are those networks which are only available to certain users or servers.
On the other hand, a VPN – or Virtual Private Network – is a method of creating secure connections between remote computers and present the connection in the same way as if it was a local private network.
Using a VPN provides you with a way to configure your services as if they were on a private network, and use secure connections to connect to remote servers. Choosing private over public networking for the purpose of internal communication is almost always the preferable option, given the advantages.
However, it is still crucial that you implement further security measures such as strong passwords, anti-virus software and a firewall to secure communication between your servers due to the fact that other users within the data centre are able to gain access to the same network. If you’re using a VPN, applications must be configured to use the VPN tunnel once the network is up and running.
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