Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) is a general-purpose Windows web server. LANs (Local Area Networks) such as corporate intranets and WANs (Wide Area Networks), such as the internet, are connected to the IIS, which accepts and responds to client requests. As a result, developers can create and share websites, applications, and virtual directories. In addition, it hosts user applications, websites, and other standard services needed by users.
In addition to file exchanges such as downloads, uploads, images files, HTML pages, and text documents, a web server provides users with information in several different formats. Furthermore, as middleware and back-end applications interface, web servers often provide sophisticated and highly interactive websites.
The IIS web server has its helpdesk that manages and resolves issues, while its users almost entirely support the Apache web server. In addition, IIS offers better security features than Apache, making it a more efficient and secure option.
How Microsoft IIS works?
Several different protocols and languages are used to make it work. There are a variety of elements that can be created using HTML. For example, text, buttons, hyperlinks, and direct/indirect behavior are some examples of direct/indirect behavior. To exchange information between two or more servers and users, HTTP (or Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) is used to exchange communication between them.
How do harden the IIS to avoid security breaches?
The following are some of the methods that can be used to harden the IIS to prevent security breaches from happening in the future:
- The error pages should be configured so that only relevant information about the issues received will be displayed when appropriately configured. Some unnecessary data is not displayed on the error pages, including IP addresses of servers, user IDs and passwords, or any other information that hackers could use to access and exploit the web servers.
- The “URL authorization” must apply specific rules to a specific request, e.g., when dealing with a particular URL type. An authorized URL allows a company to restrict access to specific pages on its website to only a particular group of users.
- Many features of IIS should be disabled if they do not help reduce the potential attack.
- To ensure the integrity of the web server, it is essential to control the access of domains and IP addresses.
- Use the firewall to ensure that only valid data packages are sent to the server.
- As soon as Windows gets an update, the latest security patches should be applied to the Windows operating system to ensure it remains secure.
- To manage the visitors accessing the webserver, you need to use the logging system to keep track of their visits.
- What are the differences between IIS and Apache?
- There is only one type of Internet Information Server, and it is available only for the Windows Operating System. At the same time, the Apache Web Server can be used with various operating systems, including Mac, Linux, and Windows. Unlike IIS, Apache does not have its help desk to handle issues with the software. Instead, almost all of Apache’s support is provided by the community of users who use the software.
There are many off-springs or languages of Microsoft that can also be integrated with Internet Information Services, such as ASPX, the scripting language used by Microsoft to build web pages. Compared to the Apache web server, the security features of IIS are more reliable, making it a better choice for web servers than Apache web servers.
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