In this interconnected world, the Remote Desktop is a service from Windows that allows users to connect to a host computer from anywhere around the globe. This enables users to access the server as well as the data stored on the server from any remote location. RDP is a very useful feature however; it also has several security issues.
In this networking world, security and accessibility have always remained a challenge. When we grant an RDP access to authorized users it always poses a risk of unauthorized users gaining access to your server.
To prevent your RDP server, from unauthorized access, you need to follow some basic security tips and techniques to make your RDP session secure and confidential:
- Complex Password: While setting up a password for your RDP server always use a strong and complex password which means a combination of Capital letters, small letters, numbers, and at least two special characters. This will prevent your server from getting unauthorized access or hacked.
- Network Level Authentication: One of the best features of Remote Desktop Services is Network Level Authentication (NLA) requires the user to connect to authenticate before a session is established with the server. So, enabling NLA will prevent your server from getting unauthorized access.
- Windows Firewall: The use of the firewall plays an important role once we talk about RDP security, firewalls filter the two-way network traffic over the network and protect the RDP from unauthorized traffic. You can create your own rule on the firewall to restrict unauthorized access to the server. The firewall should be enabled all the time to prevent your server from getting unauthorized access
- RDP port: The default port of the RDP is 3389 and it is known to the hackers that they start brute forcing to gain access to the RDP server once they get the IP and notice that the Remote is enabled on that IP. If you change the RDP default port to any other port number reduce the risk of unauthorized access to the RDP server.
