The following points are general security issues and considerations all system administrators should be aware of, especially on "front-line" production machines like a publicly accessible Web server:

• Log files are an administrator's best friend. Make a habit of scanning them for system or user irregularities on a routine basis. Ideally, log files should be sent to a separate system devoted to this one purpose. Doing so ensures that no one but an authorized administrator can view or tamper with these important files.
• Backups are a crucial component of any comprehensive security strategy. Make sure you have current system backups for all key systems on your network and that the backups can be restored without error.
• As noted in the previous panel, Tutorial background, security begins at the physical level and moves outward in ever-increasing circles. Production servers should be physically secured in a locked room, and stringent password policies enforced. Non-essential services on the server should be turned off, and properly-configured network access control lists (ACLs) should be in place.
• Apache, by default, runs all child processes as user nobody (the main process controlling the child processes is under root control). All system services accessible to the public should ideally be run under a unique user ID to enforce complete separation between services. For example, Apache's webuser and webgroup directives (found in the httpd.conf configuration file) should be set to a unique user/group such as www/www.
• Finally, administrators should routinely scour their systems for files that are unnecessarily setuid and/or setgid. (find / -type f -a \( -perm -4000 -o -perm -2000 \) -print).