Web Hosting UK Blog » server security

Close unnecessary ports of server.

admin — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 11:05:47 +0000

Unnecessary open ports can create problem for your server and such servers are more prone to get attack by hackers. Hackers always search for open ports on any server and if they manage to get one, they can get into your server and can do anything they want. Even they can prevent your access to your server. thus as precautionary measure you should check if by mistake you have kept any port open. Following commands will help you to get all details about your server.

First of all you need to check which services are running on your server, you can use :
chkconfig –list | grep on
Now you should disable certain services which you don’t want and can be harmful for you. Use chkconfig service name off.
You need to stop such unwanted services using following command : /etc/init.d/service stop
You can also close certain ports using iptables and firewall setting.

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Block IP addresses using .htaccess file

admin — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:50:41 +0000

Blocking IP addresses using .htaccess file
Manytime you need to block certain IP which is threatening your website/server or is trying to attack your server by creating load on it [ DDOS attack] then you can easily block such IPs using .htaccess file. Once you manage to get the IP address which is playing with your server then you just need to add it in deny list of htaccess file. All IPs which are listed in this list cant access your site anymore and thus you can protect your server from such attacks. All you have to do is to add IP in your htaccess file which is located at root directory by using following code.

order deny,allow
deny from IP address

You can add as many IP address as you want in this list. One thing to be noted that spammers/hackers can change their IP addresses very easily as most spammers work from their home PCs which are not static and may update very often. Thus is may be very difficult for you to get exact IP address which you need to block. So its always better to get a good firewall for your server or a webhost who will manage your dedicated server for such security issues and will monitor it round the clock.

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Rootkit, protect your dedicated server.

admin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:37:07 +0000

Rootkits, are malicious programs which can create problems for your VPS or dedicated servers if they got the way to get themselves into your server. Usually rootkits are more prone to linux OS but can also affect Windows based dedicated servers. As a webmaster you should try to implement latest security patches for your server and should update server security as frequently as possible so that you can keep your server away from such rootkits application which may create huge problems for your server and may affect it performance. Usually all rootkits applications enters your machine/server through any security hole which is present in your website, your database or any other third party applications installed on your server which cannot be detected by any type of anti-virus softwares, applications.

Such rootkit applications are not detected by most of the security applications as they have their place in kernel of affected linux server, thus they remain undetected as they are run as ‘root’ or as administrator and remains undetected. If you want to keep such malicious programs away from your server you need to concentrate more on your server security and should have latest anti-virus application and rootkit hunting software running smoothly on your server. Hackers usually use rootkits to install certain malicious programs using which they can run their own program/ malicious programs using your dedicated/VPS servers resources which may create problems for you and will end up your server security issues.

Rootkits can be very dangerous and if your server has been infected by rootkit then you cannot remove it as they embedded within your kernel or root of your operating system of your dedicated server. Only solution for your rootkit infected server is reinstalling the operating system of your VPS or dedicated server.

Thus here comes the phrase “ Prevention is better then cure “

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