Post by @Ferrous@lemmy.ml

2026-10-22 19:44 UTC

For users with public facing services: How does the current explosion of AI-discovered vulnerabilities affect your threat model and willingness to be public facing? PHP, TLS, etc… We appear to be facing a tsunami of vulnerabilities being discovered in record time. Further, the window to act on these vulnerabilities has basically closed to zero; hackers’ tools now automatically fold the very latest vulnerabilities into their botnets within minutes/hours of discovery. I have always been extremely reluctant to expose any of my services - even with the latest and greatest security tools. My choice to stay totally within the confines of tailscale seems vindicated given this week’s news. How are you all taking this? pwn.watch

Replies (2)

@Ardyvee@europe.pub 2026-10-23 00:06

Hasn’t changed much. I have accepted the risk and, for now, the desire to have publicly accessible stuff outweights my lack of desire to deal with the realities of a VPN. I mean, I want to share stuff with others, and I want to be hosting it myself because I have grown to distrust someone else’s service… so what else can I do but risk it? Besides: I expect tailscale or the underlying VPN services to already be a target. I would be surprised if they don’t find anything. What then?

Open ##5364643
@adrianlee_dev@lemmy.world 2026-10-26 01:35

My server was recently compromised via the latest vulnerability. Fortunately, the damage wasn’t too severe. Since my server must remain publicly accessible, it can’t be hidden behind a VPN—I can only minimize its exposure as much as possible while ensuring my backup and recovery processes are rock-solid. I’ve configured the firewall to allow only essential ports, restricted SSH access to key-based authentication, enabled automatic installation of security updates, and set up daily backups, one of which is synchronized to an off-site location. Some have suggested treating public-facing machines as if they’ve already been compromised by default. I agree with this approach, and it’s exactly what I plan to do next.

Open ##5469913