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Fortress server with padlock, SSH config terminal, and blocked connection attempts — SSH hardening guide

SSH Hardening — The Ultimate Guide for 2026

If your server has a public IP, it's getting SSH brute-force attempts right now. Not maybe. Not eventually. Right now. Check your auth log: grep "Failed password" /var/log/auth.log | tail -20 You'll see hundreds — sometimes thousands — of failed login attempts from IPs

HackTheBox Cap walkthrough — terminal with root shell, packet capture window, and key on dark desk

HackTheBox Cap Walkthrough — Step by Step

Spoiler Warning: This is a full walkthrough of the retired HackTheBox machine "Cap." If you haven't attempted it yet and want to try it yourself first, stop here. Come back when you're stuck or after you've rooted it. Machine: Cap Platform: HackTheBox

Cloud services with price tags transitioning to a self-hosted server rack with app icons

Top 10 Self-Hosted Alternatives to SaaS Tools

The average person pays for 5-10 SaaS subscriptions. Notion, Google Drive, LastPass, Slack, Trello — the monthly total adds up fast. Worse, your data lives on servers you don't control, subject to terms of service that change without notice and companies that can shut down, get acquired, or jack

Vault door with digital key and shield icon representing self-hosted Vaultwarden password manager

How to Self-Host Vaultwarden with Docker

Everyone needs a password manager. If you're still reusing passwords or storing them in a browser's built-in manager, you're one data breach away from a very bad week. Bitwarden is the best open-source option, but the official server is heavy — it needs MSSQL and

Comparison of Nginx Proxy Manager, Traefik, and Caddy reverse proxies with server icons and routing arrows

Nginx Proxy Manager vs Traefik vs Caddy

Every self-hosted stack needs a reverse proxy. It's the front door — it terminates SSL, routes traffic to the right container, and keeps your services from fighting over port 443. But which one should you pick? I've used all three. Nginx Proxy Manager runs this blog. I&

WireGuard VPN tunnel connecting a laptop to a server with encrypted data flow

Setting Up WireGuard VPN on Your Own Server

Most commercial VPN providers promise "no logs" and "military-grade encryption" while routing your traffic through servers you don't control. You're trusting a marketing claim with your entire internet activity. There's a better option: run your own VPN. A WireGuard VPS

Ghost editor vs WordPress dashboard side by side comparison for technical blogging

Ghost vs WordPress in 2026: Which Is Better for Technical Blogs?

Every technical blogger eventually faces this decision: Ghost or WordPress? WordPress powers 43% of the internet and has a plugin for everything. Ghost is the lean, fast alternative that was literally built for publishing. Both can be self-hosted. Both are open source. Both will run a perfectly good technical blog.

Docker Security Best Practices for Self-Hosters in 2026

Docker makes self-hosting feel effortless. Pull an image, write a compose file, run docker compose up -d, and you have a production service in minutes. That's exactly how I built the entire ByteGuard stack — Ghost, Nginx Proxy Manager, and Uptime Kuma on a single Hetzner VPS. But here&

Flat illustration of a glowing hexagonal padlock in front of a brick firewall and terminal window with SSH commands, representing Linux VPS hardening

How to Harden Your Linux VPS in 10 Minutes

The moment you spin up a fresh Linux VPS, the clock starts ticking. Within hours — sometimes minutes — your IP shows up in scanner logs and bots begin trying default credentials, common SSH usernames, and known web exploits. I've watched a brand-new server log over four thousand brute-force SSH

Flat illustration of an isometric server rack with a hexagonal security shield and terminal window, representing self-hosting a blog on a Hetzner VPS

How I Built byte-guard.net from Scratch on a Hetzner VPS

I wanted a security blog that I fully controlled — no managed platforms, no vendor lock-in, just a VPS and a stack I could understand end to end. This is how I built byte-guard.net from scratch on a Hetzner cloud server using Ghost, Nginx Proxy Manager, and Uptime Kuma, all