A failure or virus attack on a company’s server can lead to data loss, financial and reputational damage. IT infrastructure security is ensured by a whole range of measures (from physical protection to installation of specialized software).
Methods of server protection
- Physical protection from unauthorized access to the equipment. The server is located inside a secure data center or inside a secured room in the company. In a data center, even remote hand service employees access the server using a temporary key generated by the owner of the equipment.
- Authentication by SSH cryptographic keys / SSH port change in case of suspected hacking. When using passwords, installation of a limited number of input options, installation of software that blocks access to the server when suspicious activity is detected.
- Regular server software updates for OS, databases, hypervisor. Checking all updates and new patches for detected vulnerabilities and bugs.
- Password protection (two-step authentication for the administrator, frequent change of default passwords, creation of unique passwords for each service separately).
- Firewall configuration for incoming and outgoing traffic, for open, closed and internal services to prevent attacks on the server. Creating banning rules for compromised IP addresses. Using software and hardware firewalls.
- Create secure connections based on VPN tunnels for a private network that only corporate servers can see.
- Utilize SSL / TSL encryption to verify user identity and protect traffic within the enterprise server infrastructure.
- Running system components in separate dedicated spaces, separating discrete application components to quickly isolate possible threats.
- Access rights differentiation.
- Round-the-clock monitoring of the system state.
- Creation of backup copies, their encryption.
How to protect corporate information and databases on the server
Any unauthorized access to information stored on the server is unacceptable. The main reasons for bypassing server protection are excessive user privileges, weak/old passwords, management configuration mess, overflowing clipboards, lack of regular server and software maintenance.
A comprehensive approach to protecting information on the server includes structuring the database, organizing an algorithm for their recovery. It is necessary to determine the status of data, delimit the rights of users, assign the period of information processing. Company personnel should know and apply in practice the regulations of safe work with databases.
To maintain server performance, it is important to monitor uptime, find and eliminate configuration errors, network topology, regular scheduled maintenance to prevent failure of software / hardware modules and timely replacement of obsolete equipment.
IT infrastructure audit helps to strengthen server protection and find all weak points. It analyzes the system, its composition and performance, and develops recommendations to improve the level of security. At the time of the audit there is a comparison of files and characteristics of the intrusion detection system (IDS). The regularity of IDS checks is a guarantee that the server file system remains unchanged.
