Server Help I "Inherited" a friend's Server worldfiles, asking for some security and practical tecnical tips

Hi everyone! I just "Inherited" a Starbound server from a friend who don't have time/willingness to run it anymore.

She had some major security issues in the past with it, people breaking havoc exploting bugs and making damages, she blocked most of them with a vpn ip filter list (because most of the attackers used vpn to break in).

But I think most of the security issues she had was due to the fact that she was stubborn to use an unauthorized downloaded version of the game and had activated the option "allow assets mismatch" to allow people with modded characters to join in.

Now I don't wanna repeat her miatakes and also want to do it the legit way, so I purchased a second copy on Steam just for the server.

I also tracked in the Steam workshop all the mods she had installed and made a collection, plus she had some custom mods that I have to review myself and then upload on the workshop and add them to the collection, as of now they're inside the server steam game's mods folder cause I am still in the test phase.

I transfered the worldfiles to the new server steam copy and tested it inside my LAN network and everything seems to be running just fine, I am familiar with client/server base functions, port forwarding and stuff.

Now it has come to my attention there are certain applications (I think they are called server wrappers or server managers) that extend the capability of the in game server application, I found 2 of them:

-PenGUIn https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1312734221

and

-Game Server Manager https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1387080424

Has anybody of you have some experience with those tools? Also which of one of them do you guys advise its best?

Game server manager to me seems to have more function like backups, remote management and such.
Also do you guys think these tools would help me render my server more secure?

I am pretty familiar with computer networks Besides fron the usual networking security tips (firewalls, securing OS, isolation, updates, good password policies and such) is there any measure I can take to avoid people breaking in exploiting bugs to act like an admin? (I've seen a lot of crazy stuff when she ran her server)

Would having this time all the genuine Steam package+updates+mods subscriptions+server manager and not allowing assets mismatch+planned backups+vpn ipfilter list is it enough to have a good level of security?

Also is there a way to protect blocks in some areas?
I have seen this on some servers but I am pretty clueless on how to implement this, if you guys have some suggestion...

I don't care as much if people spawn items in single player to build stuff to cheat, I just don't want people to mess up/gain unauthorized admin access and to be respectful with other people's "properties".

Thanks a lot for listening

Hugs

Lu.✌