Setting up a secure Linux server
I recently signed up for a cloud-based server system to replace my last co-located physical server, which had given up the ghost. The sign-up for the new system was painless, aside from the need to relinquish my precious credit card details, and within no more than a minute, I had a brand new Debian 8.1 "Jessie" server with a static IPv4 address.
It's relatively unusual for me to manually build boxes from scratch. However, because this Debian system is destined for service as a development server, I thought, for once, I'd take note of the steps I took to secure it.
The eclectic mixture of the following steps comprise a unique, personal-preference approach, but perhaps this summary will give you food for thought about how to secure your own servers. Start with these steps and add your own. Some of the settings you might be thinking about will be missing from this list (because the spectrum of possible security steps is simply too large to cover succinctly), but you might also find some ideas you hadn't considered.
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