How to secure POP3 in my dedciated server

Discussion in 'Site & Server Administration' started by joujoba, Nov 8, 2010.

  1. #1
    hello

    i am using horde which i think uses POP3, however i haven't changed any settings of POP3 since the server was installed. so i think the username and pass might be easily breached, can you help me in how to secure it please?
     
    joujoba, Nov 8, 2010 IP
  2. AtomicPages

    AtomicPages Peon

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    #2
    I'm guessing your login is http://www.example.com/webmail or http://mail.example.com/
    What you could do I use IMAP instead of POP3 if you have the option. IMAP will only download the message you want once you select the message where as POP3 will download all messages and store them locally on your computer until you discard them.
    Additionally, you can implement an SSL on your webmail login to any info being sent to the server is encrypted and would be rather difficult to "hack" into. e.g. https://www.example.com/webmail or https://mail.example.com/
     
    AtomicPages, Nov 8, 2010 IP
  3. rehash

    rehash Well-Known Member

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    #3
    do you or other users actually use POP3? if not, just disable it
     
    rehash, Nov 11, 2010 IP
  4. joujoba

    joujoba Peon

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    #4
    what do you mean?
    I do not send emails in my webmail, I only receive them if thats what you mean?
    and when i receive them i do not download them to my pc, they are deleted inside my inbox.
     
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2010
    joujoba, Nov 12, 2010 IP
  5. supportex

    supportex Peon

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    #5
    Simplest way to secure mail services is to use SSL and strong passwords.
     
    supportex, Nov 16, 2010 IP
  6. underground-stockholm

    underground-stockholm Guest

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    #6
    Do you run the POP3 server yourself or just the web server that Horde runs on? If you do run the POP3 server, there are a few things you can do to increase the security:

    - See if there are any known security vulnerabilities in your version of the server program, by visiting sites like Secunia, OSVDB or VUPEN. If there are, update to a later version with no known security vulnerabilities.
    - Set up a firewall, so that only the web server and no other machines are allowed to connect to the POP3 server.

    Just some hints on how to tighten up the security..
     
    underground-stockholm, Nov 25, 2010 IP