Enhancing Your Cloud Security: Deploying Sandfly Agentless Security on DigitalOcean

Introduction

In the ever-evolving landscape of cloud computing, ensuring the security of your Linux infrastructure is paramount. Traditional security solutions often come with the burden of endpoint agents, which can lead to performance issues and compatibility challenges. Fortunately, Sandfly Security offers a modern, agentless approach that provides robust intrusion detection and incident response capabilities without the operational friction associated with conventional methods.

This article will guide you through the process of deploying and configuring Sandfly Security on DigitalOcean, highlighting the benefits and best practices for securing your cloud environment.

What is Sandfly Security?

Sandfly Security is an automated platform designed to continuously monitor your Linux systems for potential threats. By leveraging the SSH protocol, Sandfly deploys ephemeral scanners that conduct comprehensive forensic analyses without the need for permanent software installations. This agentless methodology mitigates the risks of performance degradation and compatibility issues that often accompany traditional security agents.

Key Benefits of Sandfly Security

• Agentless Operation: Comprehensive monitoring without the need for software installation.
• One-Click Deployment: Simplified setup via the DigitalOcean Marketplace, drastically reducing deployment time.
• Continuous Monitoring: Automated scanning schedules ensure persistent threat detection with minimal impact on system performance.
• Scalability: Rapid deployment across various Linux environments, making it suitable for both small and large infrastructures.

Getting Started: Prerequisites

Before diving into the deployment process, ensure you have the following:

1. An active DigitalOcean account.
2. At least one existing Linux Droplet to monitor.
3. The public IP addresses of your target Droplets.
4. A local computer with an SSH client installed.

Step-by-Step Deployment Guide

1. Deploying the Sandfly Security 1-Click App

Begin by creating the Sandfly server Droplet from the DigitalOcean Marketplace. Search for "Sandfly Security" or visit the DigitalOcean Marketplace directly.

Choose a plan that meets your needs; Sandfly recommends a minimum of 8GB RAM for production use. For smaller environments, a General Purpose Droplet with at least 4GB RAM and 2 vCPUs is a good starting point.

2. Initial Server Login and Setup

Once your Sandfly server Droplet is created, connect to it via SSH as the root user:

ssh root@

Upon your first login, an automated installation will occur, configuring necessary components. Make sure to save the randomly generated password for the admin user; this will be crucial for future access.

3. Creating a Secure Service Account

To enhance security, create a dedicated, non-root service account on each target Droplet:

ssh root@

Use the adduser command to create a new user:

adduser sandfly-scanner

Grant this user sudo privileges to ensure it can execute necessary commands:

usermod -aG sudo sandfly-scanner

4. Configuring SSH Key-Based Authentication

Next, set up SSH key-based authentication to allow the Sandfly server to connect securely to your target Droplets:

Generate a new SSH key pair on your Sandfly server:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/sandfly_scanner_key -C "sandfly-scanner-key"

Then, add the public key to the authorized_keys file on each target Droplet’s sandfly-scanner user account.

5. Configuring the Sandfly Web Console

With your server and target Droplets prepared, access the Sandfly web console by navigating to:

https://

Log in with the admin credentials and provide the necessary SSH private key and user credentials for scanning.

Implementing a DigitalOcean Cloud Firewall

To further bolster your security posture, it’s essential to configure a DigitalOcean Cloud Firewall. This will restrict access to your target Droplets, allowing only connections from your Sandfly server.

Navigate to the Networking section in the DigitalOcean Control Panel and create a new firewall:

• Rule Type: SSH
• Protocol: TCP
• Port Range: 22
• Sources: IP Address of the sandfly-server Droplet

Conclusion

By following these steps, you have successfully deployed and configured Sandfly Security on your DigitalOcean Droplets. With its agentless architecture, Sandfly provides a powerful intrusion detection system without the burdens of traditional endpoint agents. You’ve set up a secure service account, implemented SSH key-based authentication, and locked down network access with a DigitalOcean Cloud Firewall.

Your security journey doesn’t stop here—consider exploring Sandfly’s advanced features like alert tuning and SIEM integration to further enhance your security posture in the cloud. By leveraging these tools, you can ensure the ongoing protection of your Linux infrastructure against evolving threats.