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by RLG_RLG 5225 days ago
Please people (not corporations w/ staffs), do not run critical systems in the cloud.

Get a dedicated server (not cheapest you can find) and secure it with:

(install in this order)

APF - http://www.rfxn.com/projects/advanced-policy-firewall/

BFD - http://www.rfxn.com/projects/brute-force-detection/

rkhunter

Ideally, install rkhunter on fresh system, right after updates, APF, & BFD. Then update the binary check-sums with this command, if you know server is secure:

Update file properties: # rkhunter --propupd --sk

Run a system check to make sure it is known clean: # rkhunter --check --sk

Lastly, sign up for the security alert mailing list for your version of linux on your server.

If you want maximum security, be sure to password protect your boot loader and use an encrypted file system. This will make it very difficult for ISP to work on your server however!

2 comments

And, I'd add "if any of this is news to you, you should _seriously_ question whether you're skilled/competent enough to be admin-ing publicly accessable servers with files (like bitcoin wallets) that can be valued in the thousands (or tens or hundreds of thousands or more)".
Shipping syslog offsite is a good step, too.