
Your new VPS is not that hard to maintain, the first thing you need to do after deployment is to secure-it (by following the tutorials on speciality sites or by asking an expert for help).
Depending on your distro, here are 10 recommended steps to take to secure your new VPS:
- Using complex and unpredictable passwords
- Disable login with root user
- Restrict user logins to secure VPS
- Use non-standard ports for SSH
- Filter SSH connections with a firewall
- Use the Security Keys for identification
- Keep servers up to date
- Remove unused modules/packages
- Create regular backups outside of your VPS
- Use only secure protocols for all presented services where possible
Extra: recommended software to boost security:
Firewalls
Antimalware/antivirus
Rootkit scanners
cPHulk
Use SSL certificates for all communications