What actually matters when securing a VPS

1) Reduce what’s exposed to the internet

If you do one thing, do this: only expose the ports you explicitly need. Most attackers don’t need sophistication — they need opportunity.

• Use a provider firewall/security group as the first line.
• Mirror that intent on the host firewall.
• Close everything else.

If you’re unsure whether a port is required, assume it shouldn’t be exposed until proven otherwise.

2) Preserve access (avoid self-inflicted outages)

Lockouts are the most common security incident in small VPS deployments. Most are self-inflicted during firewall or SSH changes.

• Keep a second SSH session open when changing SSH or firewall rules.
• Make one change at a time. Test. Then continue.
• Keep provider console access enabled.

3) Strong SSH posture

• Use a non-root sudo user.
• Prefer key-based authentication.
• Disable root SSH login in most cases.
• If passwords must remain enabled, restrict by IP and apply rate limiting.

4) Patch management with a clear reboot policy

“We patch” is meaningless without a clear reboot policy.

• Apply security updates regularly.
• Decide: unattended security updates vs manual patch windows.
• Document your reboot cadence.

Unexpected reboots are disruptive. Unplanned patch drift is worse.

5) Verify with boring checks

Verification beats confidence. Always confirm what’s actually listening and what’s actually reachable.

# local listeners
ss -tulpen

# verify service status
systemctl status <service> --no-pager

And test from outside your network when the service is public-facing. Do not rely solely on local tests.

6) Make security changes reversible

Write down rollback steps as you go. If you cannot clearly revert a change, you are not in control of the system. Complex changes without rollback plans create fragility.

• Keep config edits minimal and commented.
• Use snapshots before major changes.
• Prefer well-known tools (UFW, systemd units) over bespoke scripts.

7) Logging: keep it minimal but useful

You don’t need surveillance. You need enough signal to diagnose outages and obvious abuse.

• Keep system logs (journald) sane and rotated.
• Consider fail2ban for SSH noise reduction.
• Avoid logging sensitive credentials or request payloads unnecessarily.

8) Don’t pretend: scope your threat model

A small private service has different needs than a public SaaS. Focus on boring fundamentals. Avoid complicated security theatre. Scope drives security decisions. Don’t overbuild.