If you have a Dedicated web server hosting thinking that you will never face an attack will always prove to be a myth as dedicated servers also experience user-initiated attacks. The best thing to avoid these attacks is to be prepared. First thing is you should have a good web host to manage your server. You can now install APF on your Dedicated server for the prevention of attacks from the attacker. Also, you will have to learn the technique of banning a specific IP address from reaching your server.

This technique can save your Windows Dedicated server and this can be done by following the  simple steps mentioned below.

1) Login to your server as root.

2) With APF firewall installed, you just have to enter apf –d <ip>

3) Rebooting your dedicated server will reset all your IP bans and this is by default. This is the reason that APF is recommended.

4) Open up the deny hosts file.

5) Now scroll to the bottom and paste in the IP address you want to ban.

6) Ctrl+X then Y . This will help you to save the setting and keep them by default.

7) Now, just restart your APF and you are done.

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There will always be hackers and spammers looking to bring your machine down, so it is important that your servers are fully secured and you will have the correct resources so that your server will be secured from this attack. Installing some softwares for the server security is one of the steps to keep the your server secured from the hackers and spammers who are looking for your dedicated web server Also installing BFD for Brute force hack attempts will help you to secure your server. You should have APF firewall installed on your server for installing BFD as if you do not have that this will not work.

Following are some of the steps which will help you to install BFD on your Windows Dedicated server:

1) Login to the root and cd root/downloads (where you have store your files)

2) Use the SSH command of wget as follows:

wget http://www.rfxnetworks.com/downloads/bfd-current.tar.gz

3) Use the SSH command of tar as follows:

tar –xvzf bfd-current.tar.gz

4) Use the SSH command of cd as follows:

5) Run the ./install.sh file.

6) Once this is complete, you’ll receive the following message that alerts to you a proper installation:

.: BFD installed
Install path: /usr/local/bfd
Config path: /usr/local/bfd/conf.bfd
Executable path: /usr/local/sbin/bfd

7) Now, edit the configuration file: pico /usr/local/bfd/conf.bfd

Enable brute force hack attempt alerts:

Find: ALERT_USR=”0″ CHANGE TO: ALERT_USR=”1″

Find: EMAIL_USR=”root” CHANGE TO: EMAIL_USR=”your@yourdomain.com”

9) Save the changes: Ctrl+X then Y

10) Prevent locking yourself out!

pico -w /usr/local/bfd/ignore.hosts and add your own trusted IPs
Eg: 192.168.1.1

11) Save the changes: Ctrl+X then Y

Note : BFD uses APF’ cli insert feature and as such will override any allow_hosts.rules entries users have in-place. So be sure to add your trusted ip addresses to the ignore file to prevent locking yourself out.

9. Run the program!
/usr/local/sbin/bfd -s

10. Customize your applicatoins brute force configuration
Check out the rules directory in your /usr/local/bfd

Here you’ll find all kinds of pre-made rules for popular services such as Apache, and ProFTPD w00t!
You can customize them or create new rules for enhanced brute force detection and prevent attacks If you have any clue about shell scripting.

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