Security considerations when running a VM
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On the cloud, you are responsible for the security of your VMs.
This document cannot be a complete guide, but will set out some things you need to consider when creating a VM on the cloud.
Keep the operating system secured[edit]
- Apply security updates.
- Avoid using packages from unknown sources.
- Use a recent image. For example, don't use Ubuntu 14.04 when Ubuntu 16.04 is available.
- Do not allow password authentication for SSH. Use key authentication instead.
- Install fail2ban to block brute-force attacks.
Network security[edit]
- Limit who can access your service. Avoid using 0.0.0.0 in the CIDR field of the security group form.
- Do not bundle ranges of ports to allow access.
- Think carefully about your security rules. Consider the following:
- These services aren't meant to be publicly accessible:
- mysql
- postgresql
- nosql
- RDP
- ... many, many others
- Some services are meant to be accessible from the internet:
- Apache
- Nginx
- ... others
- These services aren't meant to be publicly accessible:
- Configure your web server to use HTTPS instead of HTTP.
- In many case HTTP should only be used to redirect traffic to HTTPS.
- Do not try to run a mail server.