Keeping your server safe from hackers and other malicious actors can be really easy. Protect your player data, world saves, plugin configurations and more by following this simple How-To.
Backups
Backups might not seem important, but they can be the difference between rolling back your server a few months versus rolling it back a day or two. Often, control panels like Pterodactyl will allow you to save backups to the host machine, but following the Rules of Backups, you should always have an offsite (or in this case on-site) backup. Every so often, download your server backup to your personal computer or a flash drive. This will protect your server in the event a malicious actor takes over your account and wipes your server.
Staying updated
New exploits are found every month, and patches for those exploits are released soon after they become public. By keeping your server’s JAR updated to the latest stable version, you are ensuring that your server has a chance against all of the publicly known exploits.
Don’t run random plugins!
Did you just find an unofficial version of a plugin? DON’T RUN IT ON YOUR SERVER! A lot of malicious actors will take popular plugins and re-upload them with malware stored inside of them. Some malware will spread to other files and infect them, so removing the original plugin won’t solve the issues. Your server can contain very sensitive information, like connection logs (Your home or VPN IP will be exposed), or Discord tokens (if you have a plugin that requires one, like DiscordSRV). Some strains of malware may turn your server into a DDoS bot, which will result in your server getting terminated.
These are just some of the things you can do to keep your Minecraft server secure!
