What security issues will I face when hosting a web app from home and how should I deal with them?

Question

I'm considering hosting a publicly available web application from my home with the latest ubuntu server, the ruby on rails framework, some kind of SSL, and mongrel. What security issues will I face and what should I do about them? I'd appreciate any help.

Answer 1

You just have to worry about securing the SSH I guess. ufw manages the firewall by default but you have to set it up. You can use a tool also like Fail2ban. (Or use only known hosts, use keys for authentication AND/OR move the sshd to a different port.)

For the web part, you can only count on maintainers that they will fix security holes when there is a need for that. (Watch upgrades, upgrade when you can. That's all I guess.)