The level of security that the server provides can affect multiple aspects of your business, including customer or user experience and brand reputation. A secure server protects operations and your customers’ data, preventing security breaches of various intensities.
To date, the most secure server solution is a dedicated server. Dedicated servers offer the highest security parameters due to their isolated nature, no matter if it’s the expensive or cheap dedicated server we’re talking about.
This article will go into detail about how dedicated servers can enhance security.
Dedicated Servers and Their Impact on Security
The 2021 Ponemon Institute study on cybersecurity revealed that the compromised security of cloud accounts costs organizations $6 million annually. The most significant consequences occurred through the disruption of business operations, sensitive data leaks, and reputational damage.
It tells us that cloud servers and servers that undergo certain forms of virtualization are statistically more prone to allow security threats.
Dedicated servers, on the other hand, provide reliable resources to one user and give the user control over security measures related to software and hardware.
The control of the hardware is an exclusive feature of dedicated servers, which no other hosting solution provides. What does the power of hardware give the user? First, users can implement and add physical security devices to the server hardware, like physical firewalls. This way, a user is free to not follow the security protocols or lack thereof offered by the hosting provider. If you want to utilize every security measure in the book to protect the server’s data, dedicated servers allow you to do so. Second, a user doesn’t share a physical server with anybody else; thus, the possibility of security threats from other users is limited.
Regarding software security measures, dedicated servers offer a unique but very “on-style” feature, which is not sharing software environment. In contrast to shared hosting, where virtual resources are also shared, dedicated servers prevent irregularity of the resource flow and frequent server downtime.
How Do Dedicated Servers Help Eliminate Security Threats?
Dedicated servers allow users to forget about certain security vulnerabilities associated with other server types, and they manage to do so due to the particular parameters they provide.
Custom Security Configurations
Since dedicated servers offer users complete control over hardware and software, one can implement various security practices at the same time.
Moreover, a user can customize the backup channels and schedule. Server security is not only about preventing the attacks; it’s also about safeguarding the data stored on a server and the strategies for its recovery.
Root Access
Root access is not a common feature included in hosting solutions. While some virtual servers offer root access, this characteristic can be hard to come by.
Dedicated servers come with root access with no exception. This is important because root access allows controlling the protocols that govern who has the right to access a server through the network. In the context of security threats, the root access feature is paramount.
Fewer Security Threat Channels
Take shared and virtual private servers, for example. Both of them function through the hypervisor layer, which relies on infrastructure. This aspect alone increases the risk of cyber attacks on the server. Shared hosting is associated with an even higher risk of security breaches since other users’ insufficient cyber protection can directly impact your server, opening a gateway to viruses and malware attacks.
Dedicated servers are associated with isolated environments with no third parties involved in communication between the server and the user. Such a peculiarity significantly reduces the risk of security threats. In short, a dedicated server is guarded since only a couple of channels exist for an external breach to come through.
Uptime Reliability
The 2022 report from Information Technology Intelligence Consulting (ITIC) shows that the hourly cost of downtime for small- and medium-sized enterprises and large enterprises exceeds $300,000. The key finding revolved around unforeseen security breaches causing server downtime. However, downtime is not always associated with security breaches. Moreover, it can provoke security threats.
Unlike other server solutions, dedicated servers show the best uptime metrics out there. This is attributed to the isolated nature of servers and their spread location within data centers. The mentioned data centers also provide sufficient measures of physical security and emergency reaction to unforeseen external circumstances, like power outages, all the while providing users with promised uptime.
Conclusion
Aside from dedicated servers being a robust hosting solution that can support considerable traffic amounts and resource-demanding operations, they are known for being one of the most secure hosting options.
Due to the isolated environment, dedicated resources, and complete control over the server’s software and hardware configurations, dedicated servers are inherently more protected against security threats of various origins.
