Server Hardening

Server hardening involves implementing various security measures to protect your server from unauthorized access, attacks, and vulnerabilities. By following these steps, you can enhance the security posture of your Minarca server.

Configure a Reverse Proxy

Setting up a reverse proxy can provide an additional layer of security and improve the performance and scalability of your web applications.

Read more:

Encrypt Network Traffic (SSL)

Configure you server to make use of secure protocols like SSL/TLS to encrypt network traffic. Obtain and install valid SSL certificates from trusted certificate authorities.

How to configure letencrypt

Configure Firewall

Set up a firewall to control incoming and outgoing network traffic. Only allow necessary ports and protocols. You should consider to expose only ports 80 (http), 433 (https) and 22 (ssh). Make sure you are not exposing default port 8080 used by default by Minarca Server for unsecure communication. Close all unused ports and services to minimize potential attack vectors. Implement a default deny policy, only permitting essential services.

Secure remote SSH access

The SSH (Secure Shell) server is a critical component of remote server access. Implementing proper security measures for SSH helps protect against unauthorized access and potential attacks. Minarca Server already take take of some best practice regarding the configuration of the SSH server by disabling TCP tunnel, creating a Chroot Jail and using password-less authentication.

Here are additonals element an administrator could configure to make the SSH server more secure.

  1. Disable SSH protocol versions 1 and use only SSH protocol version 2, which offers stronger security.

  2. Change the default SSH port (typically 22) to a non-standard port to reduce visibility to potential attackers. Choose a port outside the well-known port range. (Don’t forget to define minarca-remote-host=example.com:2222 in your configuration)

  3. Configure SSH to only allow specific users or groups to connect, limiting access to authorized individuals.

  4. Implement SSH brute-force attack protection mechanisms, such as fail2ban, to automatically block IP addresses that exhibit suspicious behavior.

Update and Patch Management

Regularly update and patch your server’s operating system, software, and applications to ensure you have the latest security fixes and bug patches. Enable automatic updates or establish a systematic update process. Minarca is continiously updated with secutiry enhancements.