Synology Diskstation Security Tips

If you have a Synology Diskstation and you're only using it for local hosting of files on your local lan or wifi network, this may not be as critical.

IP Auto Block

But if you've opened up the unit to accept connectivity from the outside world via the Internet you would be well advised to regularly log in as the admin and review the system logs. I didn't notice much activity at first when I allowed remote access to the Diskstation, but recently I started seeing regular attempts to login from unknown sources. Several each day like these:

It's really unnerving to see that. I'm not naïve but my server is literally a tiny speck of nothing in the universe and has nothing of value to anyone but me. Yet the universe must be filled with pinheads who have nothing better to do than try and hack random IP addresses. Actually, it's highly likely the login attempts aren't being done by a human but by a bot that's already found its way onto other servers and is just probing.

The Diskstations have a feature called IP Auto Block. You can find it in the Control Panel of the Synology server admin tool. Turning it on will make the Diskstation automatically block any IP communication once it has witnessed five failed login attempts. I highly recommend you turn this on. Since turning it on my Diskstation has regularly been blocking several addresses each week. Ye gods, is there no honor left in this world?

Antivirus Essential

Also, Synology offers a utility called Antivirus Essential that you'll find in the Package Center under Security. It's a free anti-virus tool. So far I haven't had issues with viruses getting on the Diskstation but I'd also recommend installing this package to help ward off some potential problems.

(Update Jan 2015) Maintain System Updates

People complain all the time about Microsoft's regular patching. Unfortunately, given the propensity for people with too much time on their hands to be constantly hacking systems, I think Windows users must keep abreast of updates (even if some of the updates are of questionable quality!). The same is true for the Synology gear. I recently posted about issues [burningends.blogspot.com] I had with the Diskstation updates, and it turned out my device might have been compromised by some bitcoin hack. So, although updates have sometimes wreaked havoc with my Diskstation's sleep function, the reality is that part of my security responsibility is to keep up with updates.