Are Autonomous VPS Recovery Systems Secure Against Abuse?

[johny899]

There is a high probability that VPS can go offline late at night and wishing that it would come back online on its own. I know first-hand how difficult this situation can be stress-wise. Autonomous VPS recovery systems have completely altered lives for those when something had occurred with them. But how safe are VPS Redundancy from misuse? Can you (or someone else) abuse this type of system?

Let’s put it all out there.

VPS Redundancy Systems – What Do They Accomplish?​

VPS redundancy systems will continuously monitor your VPS and will take some sort of action when there is a problem. I have personally used VPS redundancy systems in my own data centres and have received great results whilst restoring servers that have crashed.

Most VPS redundancy systems will recreate the initial setup of the VPS and include the following actions:

• Reboot the VPS after a crash
• Restore the VPS from a previous backup.
• Restore the VPS automatically.
• Run scripts automatically. An administrator does not have to wait for someone to take the necessary steps to resolve an issue.

Great! But total automation presents inherent risks.

How Abuse Can Happen​

The issue with hackers is that they really like systems that operate in an identical manner every time. If hackers understand how you have set up your recovery process, they can easily manipulate that process to their advantage. Have you ever thought about that?

I have seen scenarios where:

• Hackers cause repeated crashes purposely
• Automatic recovery continuously rebuilds
• Older backups reintroducing security risks
• Rebuilding too many times uses up unnecessary resources and cost

That last issue really hurts financially. Nobody likes unexpected costs.

How to Make Your Recovery Process Safer​

I have more confidence in these types of automatic recovery systems when individuals put limits and checks on the processes. You should never completely automate anything in your organization without first ensuring that you have adequate oversight. This is something I have learned through firsthand experience.

Safer automatic recovery systems tend to have:

• Limits on how often recovery processes are performed
• Manual approval of every complete recovery
• Secure and up to date backups
• Clear log documentation and immediate alert capability

I challenge you to consider this question: Would you allow a machine to operate autonomously and endlessly without having someone providing oversight?

Final Remarks​

In conclusion, automatic VPS recovery systems do provide a great deal of assistance in keeping the VPS online and functioning properly, but if you do not implement them correctly, this will lead to extensive damage to your VPS. It’s like using a power tool: extremely beneficial, but if you do not apply safety standards, it will cause you a tremendous loss.