Any time public access is given to a computer security should be considered. Public access could mean allowing ssh connections, displaying HTML via HTTP, or using 3rd party software to provide a service (e.g. WordPress). Services such as ssh or http are provided by programs (more specifically [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_(computing) daemons]) running on the computer which respond to outside requests on specific ports. With OpenStack access to these ports can be managed and restricted (even to specific IP address or ranges of IP addresses), see [[OpenStack#Security Groups | Security Groups]]. Restricting access to your VM will improve its security. However, restricting access as much as possible does not always mean removing all security vulnerabilities. If not using some sort of encryption when sending data (e.g. passwords) an eavesdropper can read that information. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_Layer_Security Transport Layer Security] is the common way to encrypt this data, any web site using logins (e.g. WordPress, MediaWiki) should consider using it to encrypt the data transferred (see [[Configuring Apache to use SSL]]). You are responsible for the security of your virtual machines and should take it seriously.
Any time you make a computer accessible to the public, security must be considered. "Accessible to the public" could mean allowing SSH connections, displaying HTML via HTTP, or using 3rd party software to provide a service (e.g. WordPress). Services such as SSH or HTTP are provided by programs called [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_(computing) "daemons"] which stay running all the time on the computer and respond to outside requests on specific [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_(computer_networking) ports]. With [[OpenStack]] you can manage and restrict access to these ports, including granting access only to a specific [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_address IP address] or to ranges of IP addresses; see [[OpenStack#Security Groups | Security Groups]]. Restricting access to your VM will improve its security. However, restricting access does not necessarily remove all security vulnerabilities. If we do not use some sort of encryption when sending data (e.g. passwords) an eavesdropper can read that information. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_Layer_Security Transport Layer Security] is the common way to encrypt this data, and any web site which uses logins (e.g. WordPress, MediaWiki) should use it; see [[Configuring Apache to use SSL]]. You are responsible for the security of your virtual machines and should take it seriously.
Any time you make a computer accessible to the public, security must be considered. "Accessible to the public" could mean allowing SSH connections, displaying HTML via HTTP, or using 3rd party software to provide a service (e.g. WordPress). Services such as SSH or HTTP are provided by programs called "daemons" which stay running all the time on the computer and respond to outside requests on specific ports. With OpenStack you can manage and restrict access to these ports, including granting access only to a specific IP address or to ranges of IP addresses; see Security Groups. Restricting access to your VM will improve its security. However, restricting access does not necessarily remove all security vulnerabilities. If we do not use some sort of encryption when sending data (e.g. passwords) an eavesdropper can read that information. Transport Layer Security is the common way to encrypt this data, and any web site which uses logins (e.g. WordPress, MediaWiki) should use it; see Configuring Apache to use SSL. You are responsible for the security of your virtual machines and should take it seriously.