Brute force is a common practice used by cybercriminals that are not based on system vulnerabilities but depend on weak login credentials, including easy-to-crack passwords.
It is a trial-and-error method to guess the credentials required for testing with every feasible combination.
If you check the statistics provided, the total volume of brute attacks increased by 160% during May 2021, i.e., brute attacks targeted 26% of all organizations per week on average, which is a dangerously high percentage.
Although you can never be ready against such an attack, a Dedicated Hosting service can be handy for managing against it. Therefore, choosing a Dedicated Hosting plan from a reliable web hosting and domain provider that ensures utmost server security is essential.
Through this article, we shall get into some practical techniques that one can adopt if they have a Dedicated Server in NZ to maintain the best Dedicated Server against brute-force attacks for keeping your data safe and secure.
What is a Brute Attack?
In simple words, a brute attack is a common web-thereat wherein a cybercriminal attacks through password-guessing, i.e., systematically attempting to discover a password by testing every possible combination of letters, numbers, and symbols until they find the one with the correct combination.
Although this might sound simple, it is not, as the downside is that it could take years to find it based on the passwordÂ’s length and complexity; there could be billions or even trillions of possible combinations.
Consequences of Brute Force
Brute force attacks can have severe consequences, which are as follows:
- Stealing and access of personal information like bank credentials, credit account details, and personal information, which could be quickly sold to third parties for profit
- An organizational breach can lead to access to databases, sensitive information, and compromise concerning the reputation and trust of the company.
- It can consume significant system resources that will impact performance.
- Loss of customer trust in data protection protocols
- Legal consequences such as fines and imprisonment
- Website compromisation, redirect users to fraudulent websites, spam ads, etc.
How to protect your best-Dedicated Hosting server against Brute Force
Following are the precaution one can take to protect the Dedicated Server in NZ
- Strong and unique passwords
The important aspect of saving a Dedicated Server against brute force is to set a robust and unique password with vital phrases and words. The password must be almost 8 characters long, combining upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters.
Further, you must use common words and any personal information which can be easily guessed, like birthdates, mobile numbers, etc. Therefore, one must take the following practices-
- Setting the most common passwords should be avoided
- Adopt policies to reject weak passwords
- Change your password frequently
- Use of Microsoft Windows Firewall
A Windows Dedicated Server comes with a pre-installed Microsoft Window Firewall with robust security that protects your server from malware and other internet threats.
It is dedicated to preventing any authorized access to a Dedicated Server, protects the data from being robbed, and holds spyware and other nasty software from being installed on your computer.
- CSF Firewall
An affordable Dedicated Server usually comes with a free Config Server Firewall, i.e., firewall software, to protect against exploitation of defenselessness in web applications.
Additionally, CSF blocks hostile scripts insinuated into web pages by other users.
- Track and monitor login activities.
Regularly monitor login activities, such as the number of failed login tries and the failed IP addresses of users and locations.
This helps to determine and effectively answer brute force attacks before and as they occur.
Conclusion
Brute attacks are dangerous but can be controlled by adopting the practical technique listed above to prevent and answer brute-force attacks on your Dedicated Server effectively.
Further, staying alert and assertive in securing your Dedicated Server against such dangers is equally essential.