Hosting a server is wonderful, isn’t it? From hosting for a couple friends to managing and fostering a community, you and like-minded players can all work together to one greater goal, or you can wage war against each other. However, like most online services, there will always be one bad actor out there to ruin the fun.
These kinds of poor-faith users can sap all the fun of a server and ruin the experience. They could be petty users that want to destroy what people have worked hard for, sow destruction across the whole server, or they could be malicious users that try to take down the server. How do you protect against this? Each game has their own methods of protection, so let’s take a look at what is available.
Method 1: Password Access
Some game servers will block access to a server if you don’t know the password. This quick and easy way to secure a server means that users outside of the community can’t access the server without a code, password, or passphrase. Once you have a password set, you can share this among users you trust.
To access this server, you must answer a riddle, or just know what the secret code is.
Using a password means that you can share a way to access a server. This can protect against random users looking to join a server, though if the password is leaked, it will need changing.
Method 2: Whitelists
A whitelist, or sometimes referred to as an allow list, is another way to secure a server. Unlike a password, a whitelist means that users can only join if an admin has given express permission for a user to join. It’s like banning users off a server, except you are giving them the ability to join, not stopping them.
Give your players the VIP treatment by creating a list of allowed players.
This method of security means that you can lock down a server to only people you know. It does mean that, if more people would like to join the server, they will also need to be added to the whitelist.
Method 3: Private Listing
There are two ways a server can be accessed: knowing the server address and adding it to the server browser, or by perusing a list of public servers. Not all games will have a public listing, but for games that do, it means anyone has the potential to join your server, regardless if you gave them the server information.
Hiding your server from the server browser means only people who know the address to connect.
By unlisting a server, you can easily prevent any random user from connecting to a server. Do note: some games will require listing the server. For example, Palworld players on console must require the server to be listed as a public server.
Method 4: Account Authentication
This method is more about making sure the players connecting to your server are “real” players. Any player can be authenticated simply by owning a copy of the game. That being said, some games such as Minecraft have settings that allow users to bypass authentication. Perhaps there are issues having the account authenticated, or users don’t own a legitimate copy of the game.
The first line of defense in all game servers is authentication. It filters out users so that only those verified as "real" can connect.
All servers that have authentication will have this on by default. For games that do allow for disabling this option, be warned that a lack of authentication can leave a server vulnerable. Users can log in as another user or admin, or the server can be attacked by a wave of spam accounts. As such, it’s highly recommended that authentication should remain on.
What is the best way to secure a server?
The best method of security will depend on how you want to protect your server. For example, a whitelist for a large community server may not be the best option as it means having to manually approve everyone that wants to be on a server. On the other hand, for a friend group server, setting up a password could be more than what’s necessary when a whitelist is all that is required. Take a look at what is available and try out a different combination of security options.
Public servers can also be targeted by all kinds of malicious actors, but if you host a server with us, know that your server is safe with us! All servers hosted on Akliz come with an added layer of protection, safeguarding your server against DDoS attackers. To get started with your own server, check out our affordable plans, then simply click on New Server and select from one of the many games and modpacks!