What is a Secure VPS, and What Does It Affect?

The security of the hosting solution is essential since in most cases, the hosting process involves the digital transfer of data.

Virtual Private Server (VPS) as a concept offers a high level of security. However, it can vary depending on different factors, including the choice of a hosting provider, a hosting plan, and the specific version of the OS on the server, for example, Virtual Private Server FreeBSD, and others.

In this article, we will look at what makes a VPS secure and why you should care about it.

Features of a reliable VPS

First, you must ensure that the VPS option you've found is reliable and trustworthy. Certain criteria determine the reliability of a VPS service or hosting provider.

Uptime reliability

Indeed, a dependable hosting provider will be as transparent as possible, offering customers realistic uptime metrics. However, the higher the uptime a provider promises, the more time your website will stay active, which is vital for the business, user experience, and website search ranking.

Another important aspect is how a hosting provider will maintain the promised uptime in unforeseen circumstances. A reliable VPS provider should have such a strategy ready and, desirably, stated on their website.

Sufficient server speed

Server speed should be distinct from the page loading speed. Server speed implies how fast your server responds to inquiries, thus determining the service quality you will get.

Server speed is a robust parameter that allows the enhancement of other characteristics on top of it. For example, server speed can facilitate increasing page loading speed, but not the other way around; server speed is sort of a given. So, it's essential to consider the server speed offered and whether it is satisfactory for your needs.

Options for managed and unmanaged plans

A dependable hosting provider should offer managed and unmanaged VPS hosting plans.

The VPS setup, configuration, and troubleshooting require some technical knowledge on the user's end. If the user isn't tech-savvy or doesn't have a professional team, a hosting provider ideally should offer to take technical management over VPS hosting.

Data backup

Backup is another essential offering coming from a reliable VPS provider. Here, it is necessary to know the answer to the following questions:

• Is data backup performed automatically, or do you need to set it up?
• If a provider takes responsibility for data backup, how often can you expect backups to occur?
• Can you customize the backup schedule?
• How long is the data stored, and how can you restore it?

Data backup is one of the most straightforward security measures a VPS provider can offer. So, if a hosting provider doesn't offer backups, chances are they aren't reliable.

Why do you need to care about VPS security?

The security of VPS hosting is a necessity. It is the VPS security that ensures and maintains your online presence or the online presence of your business.

VPS security is undoubtedly about protecting your data, but it is also about safeguarding your reputation and customers' trust.

VPS security is a foundation for the following functions:

• Protecting the data. Sufficient VPS security prohibits unauthorized access, protecting the data from being compromised.
• Maintaining service quality. VPS security allows continuously providing high-quality VPS services to clients, avoiding downtime as much as possible.
• Preserving the reputation. Security threats and attacks negatively impact your organization's reputation; on the contrary, VPS security promotes reputational stability and customers' trust.

Without the necessary security measures, the following consequences may occur:

• Service delivery disruption. Various types of attacks, like DDoS attacks, can interrupt the delivery of your services to users, thus causing complications for them in the form of downtime and revenue loss.
• Losing money. Insufficient VPS security can allow system vulnerabilities to be exploited, and the consequences of such intrusion can come at a price, considering possible legal battles or fees, remedies, etc.
• Damage to the reputation. Reputational damage due to exploited security vulnerabilities may seem like the least of evils, but in the long run, it can narrow the customer pool due to distrust.

Tips to secure your VPS

There are foundational security practices that you shouldn't overlook, as they will help you strengthen the security of your VPS.

Ensure software updates

Outdated software and its bugs often become the cause and the "door" for attackers.

To avoid that, ensure the software itself, applications, and other software components are updated. For convenience, you can set up automatic updates.

Use the properly configured firewall

A firewall acts as a VPS filter for outside traffic. How well the firewall will filter the traffic depends on how thoroughly you configure it.

The firewall allows you to set rules and access control lists that regulate which IP addresses can go through a firewall. There are other specific settings that the firewall has. Please make sure you look into them and regularly assess the relevance of the active settings.

Utilize SSH

Secure Shell (SSH) provides a more potent authentication method through generated key pairs, making accessing the server harder for unsolicited third parties. It allows you to set access through a key pair instead of single passwords.

Ensure VPS network security

There are several tactics to ensure VPS network security, including using a VPN and creating lists for IP addresses (whitelisting, blacklisting).

Protect your data

You can ensure your data is protected by using data backups, encryption tools, SSL certificates, etc.