Join us as we explore the nine essential pillars that will enable you to keep your servers and databases secure.
Get ready for an informative journey that will transform your approach to cybersecurity.
Why is it important to protect a server and the information it contains?
In an increasingly digitized business environment, servers are becoming the epicenter of the sensitive information that drives operations.
Databases, meanwhile, represent a prime target for potential cyber-attacks, which can lead to serious problems, such as downtime, with consequences that can transcend the very stability of the business.
What are the most common cyberattacks?
- Malware:
The term used to describe a malicious program or code that is harmful to a system. This software attempts to invade, damage or disable computers, tablets, smartphones and gain control of them.
Although the malware cannot damage hardware, it can steal, encrypt or erase the information it contains.
- Phishing:
This is a type of attack that involves sending emails to impersonate companies and public bodies, and then requesting personal and banking information from the user.
- Zero-day attack.
It is a type of attack that cyber criminals use to attack servers and systems through newly discovered vulnerabilities that have not yet been fixed. Hence the name "zero-day".
- Ransomware.
Ransomware is a type of attack used by cybercriminals to prevent users from accessing their system, server or personal files. Once the attack has been carried out, they demand payment of a ransom to regain access to them.
- Password attack.
A password attack, also known as a "brute force attack", is a technique whereby a cybercriminal tries to break into a system or server by trying different combinations of passwords. They use specific software that performs tests by mixing different alphabetic, numeric and special characters until they get a match.
- DOS and DDos attacks.
A DOS and DDos attack is also known as a "denial of service attack" and aims to crash a system or a server. The servers allow multiple users to connect at the same time, but if they exceed a limit of connections, they start to slow down or crash and may even go offline.
- Spoofing de DNS.
DNS spoofing consists of modifying IP addresses on DNS servers to redirect the victim to dangerous websites, where the attacked person unknowingly provides sensitive information such as personal data, confidential information or passwords.
- MitM or Man-in-the-middle attacks.
A MitM attack is a type of action in which a cybercriminal infiltrates between two communicating parties and intercepts messages. In addition, the cybercriminal usually imitates one of them in order to go unnoticed and build trust in the victim, causing the victim to send the information without being aware of the attack.
- Trojan.
A Trojan is malware that hides itself inside a program or application, thus hiding its malicious code within the software. Once downloaded, when the user opens the application, the malware gains access to the system or server with the intention of stealing information.
Advanced attacks
- SQLi o SQL Injection.
This type of attack exploits a piece of SQL (Structured Query Language) code to access and manipulate information in a database. Most websites use SQL databases, so an attack of this type can cause serious problems for an organization.
- Cross-site-scripting.
A cross-site-scripting attack consists of introducing malicious code into websites from other sites. When a user accesses the website, this malicious code is able to execute without the user being aware of what is happening, allowing the attacker to gain access privileges on their system or even steal information.
- Birthday attack.
A birthday attack is a cryptography or brute-force attack that uses probability to achieve its goal. In probability theory, the birthday paradox considers that, out of a set of randomly chosen people, there is a greater than 50% probability that two people share the same birthday.
In this case, the cybercriminal targets hash algorithms, which are digital signatures that verify the authenticity of communications. If the attacker creates a signature identical to the one sent, he can modify the original message, sending it to the recipient without the latter suspecting that the content has been replaced.
- Rootkits.
A Rootkit is a type of malware that aims to infiltrate a device in order to take control of it. Usually, this type of malware affects the software or operating system of the device, it has infected, but it can also act on the hardware or firmware. In addition, they operate in the background, so the victim does not suspect that the malware is active.
What other types of threats are you likely to encounter?
Insider threats are cybersecurity breaches that originate from authorised users within your organisation, i.e. employees, suppliers or collaborators who intentionally or accidentally misuse an access or device.
For this reason, it is important to keep the people who work or collaborate in some way with the company well trained and informed and to have an updated Good Practices Plan.
Best practices for maintaining server and database security.
Applying best practices to ensure that information is safe on your server requires consideration of these points:
Input validation for SQL: Input validation for SQL: Establishing a security control that validates any data that a user or process may enter is an essential part of any secure development, and the benefit is significant because, if done correctly, it protects the software from a multitude of cyber-attacks.
Privileged management: In an organization there are users (human or non-human) who have accounts that have permissions to access highly sensitive systems, servers and data. For example, senior management staff, HR staff or finance department.
As organizations grow, the management of privileged users becomes more complex. Privileged Access Management (PAM) is a control that protects the identity with special access and defines what a user can and cannot do based on their role.
These accounts are usually protected by a combination of several components. Credentials of this type are often highly sought after by cybercriminals.
Updates and security patches: Updating the operating system is very important, as there can be important security and information gaps in older updates.
It is through patches that software vulnerabilities are corrected. Software manufacturers usually release updates to fix them as they are discovered.
Firewall: A network security system that limits the traffic of incoming, outgoing or circulating data within a private network. This software (or hardware and software) selects data packets to block or allow their circulation.
Its purpose is to guard our activity and information to prevent malicious attacks or unauthorized actions on the web.
To use a firewall, it is important to be clear about which IP you want to regulate within your server, since if it is a recurrent access server, we will have to use filters to avoid attacks from other countries.
Intrusion Detection System (IDS): A system that detects suspicious activity or unauthorized access and creates alerts.
IDS works together with the Firewall to block these unwanted accesses, thus keeping our data and servers secure.
SSH (Secure Shell): This is a protocol that allows users to control and modify their remote servers over the Internet using authentication mechanisms.
It is one more point of protection and control to keep the server secure, through which we can allow access only to users who we consider should have been authorized to access.
To do this, it is advisable to disable the direct access of Root (Root or user who has all rights in all modes) by SSH.
In addition, it is important to monitor the SSH logs to know if there has been any abnormal activity on our server and to be able to discover who or what has initiated it.
SSL/TLS (Secure Sockets Layer / Transport Layer Security): These are digital certificates and are used to establish an encrypted connection between a browser or device and a server or website.
These digital certificates serve to keep our application or website encrypted and prevent the interception of information from outside the server.
In addition, SSL/TLS is responsible for validating the trust of our users, thus ensuring the protection of our data.
These certificates are available free of charge
VPN (Virtual Private Network): Using a VPN brings several security advantages to the connection between the device and server, ensuring the privacy of your data.
VPNs use cryptography to protect your internet connection from unauthorized access.
In addition, they can provide detailed logs of the connections that have been made, making it easier to track any activity that takes place on our server.
Proxy: A proxy is a server that acts as an intermediary between our server (or the server where a particular application or website is hosted) and the end users.
Its function is to improve security, as a proxy is responsible for filtering and blocking malicious traffic before it reaches the server.
Some proxies allow the option to hide the IP address from prying eyes. This is a perfect option to prevent DDoS attacks.
MFA (Multi Factor Authentication): A fundamental security measure consisting of a multi-step process that requires users to provide more information than just their password.
It is an additional layer of protection for access or login to protect, for example, the application where passwords are stored or VPN access.
This security measure can help prevent, in particular, brute force attacks.
Strengthening your company's digital defenses.
In this journey through the nine essential pillars of server and database security, we've mapped out a detailed picture of the threats lurking in the digital world. Protecting critical information has become a vital mission for businesses, and each pillar we strengthen is one step closer to the unwavering security of our systems.
From common cyber-attacks such as malware and phishing, to advanced threats such as SQL injection attacks and stealthy rootkit behaviour, we have identified risks and outlined defensive strategies.
Best practices for server security, such as input validation for SQL, careful privilege management, and constant updating, are beacons that guide to a safer horizon. Implementing a robust firewall, intrusion detection systems, and multi-factor authentication protocols are layers of armor that strengthen our position against cyber onslaughts.
By maintaining vigilance, updates, and committing to these security measures, your business not only prepares to defend against today's attacks, but also establishes a solid foundation for dealing with emerging threats in the future. Cybersecurity is a constant journey, and every lesson learned and measure implemented is a step towards digital resilience.
May security always be your ally in this continuous digital journey!
