How to protect CentOS servers from malicious activity using an intrusion protection system (IPS)

How to use an intrusion protection system (IPS) to protect CentOS servers from malicious activities

Introduction:
With the increase in network attacks and malicious activities, more and more enterprises and individuals are beginning to pay attention to the network Safety. As a representative of server operating systems, CentOS is widely used in Internet applications. To protect CentOS servers from malicious activities, an effective method is to use an intrusion protection system (IPS). This article will introduce how to configure and use IPS to protect CentOS servers.

1. Understanding the Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)
The Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) is a network security device or software used to monitor and prevent network attacks. It monitors network traffic and identifies and blocks malicious activity based on preset policies. IPS protects servers by identifying and blocking attacks before they are received by the server.

2. Install and configure IPS
Installing and configuring IPS on CentOS server is the first step to protect server security. Here we use Suricata as an example to explain.

1. Install Suricata:
The method to install Suricata on the CentOS server is as follows:

$ sudo yum install epel-release   # 安装EPEL源
$ sudo yum install suricata      # 安装Suricata

2. Configure Suricata:
After installing Suricata, you need to configure it. The configuration file is generally located at /etc/suricata/suricata.yaml. You can use an editor to open the file for configuration.

$ sudo vi /etc/suricata/suricata.yaml

In the configuration file, you can meet your needs by modifying the rule set, defining blocking policies, configuring logs, etc. According to the actual situation, you can configure it accordingly.

3. Start and test IPS
After configuring Suricata, we can start it and test it.

1. Start Suricata:

$ sudo systemctl start suricata

2. Check the running status of Suricata:

$ sudo systemctl status suricata

If Suricata is running normally, you can continue testing.

3. Conduct IPS test:
In order to test whether Suricata can detect and block malicious activities, you can use some network scanning tools to test. For example, use nmap for TCP port scanning.

$ sudo nmap -p <port> <ip_address>

Different tests can be performed by changing <port> and <ip_address> to the actual destination port and IP address. If Suricata is configured correctly, Suricata will detect these malicious activities when scans reach the server and can block them with policies. You can confirm if any malicious activity has been detected by reviewing Suricata's logs.

4. Regularly update the rule set
It is important to keep the rule set up to date because the methods of cyberattacks and malicious activities are constantly changing. Updating the rule set can be done by updating the Suricata package to get the latest rules. Just execute the following command.

$ sudo yum update suricata

After updating the rule set, Suricata needs to be restarted for the new rules to take effect.

5. Summary
Using an intrusion protection system (IPS) to protect CentOS servers from malicious activities is an effective way. In this article, we cover how to install and configure Suricata as a common IPS tool and run tests to verify its functionality. Properly configuring IPS and regularly updating the rule set will help improve server security. The continued increase in network attacks has drawn much attention to security protection. We strongly recommend that you strengthen your awareness of network security when using CentOS servers.

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