n this course, we teach Apache web server hardening and cover what web server hardening is and why it plays a crucial part in running a web server. We go over several configurations we can perform to help secure our Apache web server as much as possible. In addition, we talk about the different kinds of vulnerabilities Apache is susceptible to. Apache HTTP Server is a free, open-source web server that runs approximately 45% of today’s websites, which is why learning how to secure it properly is extremely important.
Web servers are in many cases located at the edges of networks, so they are exposed to attacks more frequently than other parts of networks. Web servers are always targeted with requests, both manually and automatically, through scripts. At the beginning of this course, we provide an introduction to web server hardening and teach how to properly install and configure an Apache server. All steps are performed on Centos7, but we could use the same commands for other Linux operating systems. Keep in mind that the installation process is precisely where the process of server hardening begins. It is very important to conduct a proper installation and configuration in order to protect the server and make it less vulnerable. Remember that the default settings are easily bypassed.