So you are ready to install Linux alongside Windows and join the dual-boot club. You have your bootable USB ready, your partitions planned, and your favorite distro downloaded. But before you boot into that installer, there are three Windows and firmware settings that can quietly sabotage the entire process: Secure Boot, Fast Startup, and Fast … Read more
I run a handful of small VPS nodes that I have learned to treat like production servers, and the single change that has cut noise and risk the most is forcing SSH to accept keys only. If you want to harden SSH on a Linux server with key-only login, this guide walks through the exact … Read more
If you have ever looked at an unprotected server log, you already know the truth: bots start hammering SSH the moment the box comes online. I have watched fresh VPS instances receive thousands of failed root logins within minutes of being deployed. Setting up fail2ban to block brute-force attacks on SSH and web services turns … Read more
Setting up UFW firewall rules on Ubuntu is the single most important security task for any self-hosted server. I run a half-dozen services from a home lab and a small VPS, and every one of them got UFW configured before I exposed a single port. UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall) gives you a clean command-line front-end to … Read more
Encrypting a Linux drive with LUKS and unlocking it remotely over SSH is the solution every system administrator needs for headless servers that require full disk encryption. When your server sits in a data center, a basement, or a remote colocation facility, you cannot walk up to it and type in a passphrase after every … Read more
If you set up your Linux machine without encryption and now want to protect your data, you are not stuck with a reinstall. You can add full disk encryption to an existing Linux install without reinstalling using one of three approaches: encrypting just your /home partition, using cryptsetup-reencrypt for in-place root encryption, or doing a … Read more
Setting up a YubiKey for SSH and sudo authentication on Linux is one of the strongest upgrades you can make to your workstation or server security. Instead of typing passwords that can be phished, captured, or brute-forced, you tap a physical key that holds your private key inside tamper-resistant hardware. I walked through this exact … Read more
SSH is the front door to your servers, and a stolen password is all it takes for an attacker to walk right in. Adding a second factor turns that door into a vault. In this guide, I will walk you through exactly how to configure two-factor authentication for SSH logins with TOTP, step by step, … Read more
Every Linux server you manage has a growing list of open ports, listening services, and background processes. Most of them are necessary. Some of them are leftovers from a quick test that became permanent. And a few of them are wide-open doors that you forgot existed. Auditing a Linux server for open ports and unnecessary … Read more
Losing data is not a question of if, but when. Hard drives fail, ransomware locks files, and accidental deletes happen to everyone. The difference between a minor inconvenience and a catastrophe comes down to one thing: whether you have a working backup. This guide walks you through setting up automatic encrypted off-site backups with restic … Read more