Security Hardening Guide: The Agent Playbook

About This Guide

The Security Hardening Guide provides a complete checklist for securing an OpenClaw deployment against common infrastructure threats. The guide follows the principle of least privilege throughout, starting with SSH hardening by disabling root login, enforcing key-based authentication, and configuring fail2ban to block brute-force attempts. Firewall configuration using both UFW and iptables is covered with ready-to-apply rule sets. For secrets management, the guide covers storing API keys and credentials in HashiCorp Vault or SOPS-encrypted files checked into version control. API authentication patterns including JWT validation and rate limiting middleware are explained with copy-paste implementation code. The guide also covers setting up Auditd for tamper-evident access logging, configuring Nginx with security headers including HSTS, CSP, and X-Frame-Options, and running automated vulnerability scans with Trivy for container images. Each section includes a verification checklist so you can confirm each control is working before moving on to the next.