When you invest in dedicated servers for your UK business, you gain ultimate raw power, complete control, and maximum privacy. Unlike shared hosting, a bare-metal machine means you are solely responsible for its security. In this guide, we will walk you through the most critical steps to lock down your dedicated server running Ubuntu or Debian, keeping your data safe and GDPR-compliant. Step 1 — Update Your System Immediately Outdated software is the number one vulnerability. The very first thing you should do upon receiving your new server credentials is to update the OS packages. sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y ## Step 2 — Change the Default SSH Port and Disable Root Login Hackers constantly scan port 22 for brute-force attacks. Changing this port and disabling direct root access drastically reduces your attack surface. Open your SSH configuration file: Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode bash sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config Find `#Port 22` and change it to something like `Port 2244`.…