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The One Linux Security Habit That Exposes You — And How I Fixed It
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You can have firewalls, endpoint protection, and the latest kernel patches… But if you’re skipping this one simple habit, your server might still be wide open to compromise.
Let’s talk about the lazy login behavior that’s more dangerous than most people realize — and how I changed my workflow to fix it without slowing down productivity.
🚨 The Problem: Logging In Without Looking
Most admins SSH into a server and jump straight to commands like:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
Or worse — start editing files and restarting services without even knowing:
- Who was logged in before them?
- What processes were already running?
- Was the server just rebooted?
- Has the crontab changed?
- Is there a new listening port?
This blind trust is dangerous — especially on shared systems or when inheriting someone else’s machine.
🛠️ My Fix: A Quick 15-Second Recon Checklist
Now, every time I log into a new (or untrusted) Linux server, I do this first: