What are the most paranoid network/OS security measures you've implemented in your homelab?

MigratingtoLemmy@lemmy.world to Selfhosted@lemmy.world – 180 points –

As the title says, I want to know the most paranoid security measures you've implemented in your homelab. I can think of SDN solutions with firewalls covering every interface, ACLs, locked-down/hardened OSes etc but not much beyond that. I'm wondering how deep this paranoia can go (and maybe even go down my own route too!).

Thanks!

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I’m somewhat paranoid therefore running several isolated servers. And it’s still not bulletproof and will never be!

  • only the isolated server, ie. no internet access, can fetch data from the other servers but not vice versa.
  • SSH access key based only
  • Firewall dropping all but non-standard ports on dedicated subnets
  • Fail2ban drops after 2 attempts
  • Password length min 24 characters, 2FA, password rotation every 6 months
  • Guest network for friends, can’t access any internal subnet
  • Reverse proxy (https;443 port only)
  • Any service is accessed by a non-privileged user
  • Isolated docker services/databases and dedicated docker networks
  • every drive + system Luks-encrypted w/ passphrase only
  • Dedicated server for home automation only
  • Dedicated server for docker services and reverse proxy only
  • Isolated data/backup server sharing data to a tv box and audio system without network access via nfs
  • Offsite data/backup server via SSH tunnel hosted by a friend

Why would you rotate passsord though?
Rather choose something random and strong than changing it every 6th moon.

Rotating passwords only for web services. Vaultwarden does make it easy. Not all services allow 2FA.

Sounds still excessive but that's what the thread is here for.
Would probably understand it more if I knew more aspects.

Cheers to more cybersec :)

Guessing it is more a habit from back in time when ssl certification wasn’t common. Panic of MITM attacks, friends sharing their trusted access to other friends, etc. all contributed to my actual status of paranoia.
Don’t make me reconsider my cybersec approach ;)

Would you have to compromise on your security according to your threat model if you ran VMs rather than dedicated devices? I'm no security engineer and I don't know if KVM/QEMU can fit everyones needs, but AWS uses XCP-ng, and unless they're using a custom version of it, all changes are pushed upstream. I'd definitely trust AWS' underlying virtualisation layer for my VMs, but I wonder if I should go with XCP or KVM or bhyve.

This is my personal opinion, but podman's networking seems less difficult to understand than Docker. Docker was a pain the first time I was reading about the networking in it.

Really like your setup. Do you have any plans to make it more private/secure?

I used VMs some time ago but never managed to look deeper into separation of bare metal vs VMs. Hence I can’t assess this reasonably.
Docker got me interested when it started and after discovering its networking capabilities I never looked back.
Basically I’m trying to minimize the possibility that by intercepting one dockerized service the attacker is able to start interacting with all devices. And I have lots of devices because of a fully automated house. ;) My paranoia will ensure the constant growth of privacy and security :)