How to Implement Zero Trust Networking on a VPS

How to Implement Zero Trust Networking on a VPS

Zero Trust assumes no user or device is inherently trusted, even inside your network. This guide covers key principles for applying Zero Trust to your Breeze infrastructure.

Core Principles

• Verify explicitly - authenticate and authorize every request
• Least privilege access - grant minimum required permissions
• Assume breach - segment networks and monitor continuously

Network Micro-Segmentation

Use firewall rules to isolate services. Each service should only communicate with its dependencies:

sudo ufw default deny incoming
sudo ufw default deny outgoing
sudo ufw allow out to 127.0.0.1 port 5432 proto tcp
sudo ufw allow in on lo

Enforce Mutual TLS

Require both client and server certificates for internal service communication:

openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout client-key.pem \
  -out client-cert.pem -days 365 -nodes

Identity-Aware Access

• Use SSH certificate-based authentication instead of passwords
• Implement MFA on all administrative interfaces
• Rotate credentials and tokens regularly

Continuous Monitoring

Log all access events and monitor for anomalies:

sudo auditctl -w /etc/passwd -p wa -k identity
sudo auditctl -w /etc/ssh/sshd_config -p wa -k sshd

Applying Zero Trust on your Breeze significantly reduces your attack surface, even if a single component is compromised.