Concerns About Web Hosting Cybersecurity

Concerns about Web Hosting's Cyber Security

It is already 2021, and technology is advancing at a breakneck pace. The days of requiring extensive and specialized knowledge of web development to operate a website (or even a computer) are over.

Today, the process of creating and launching a new website is as simple as selecting a website builder, a domain name, and a reputable web hosting plan.

This final one is critical to your success.

The right provider will not only provide an optimal environment for your online project, but will also assist you in securing it. Cybersecurity reports detail an increasing number of cyberattacks and reveal alarming statistics about the potential dangers that lurk around our websites.

 

The state of cybersecurity at the moment

Worldwide, the number of websites continues to grow exponentially, as does the incentive for attackers to attempt a breach. There are numerous reasons for this - profit, competitor espionage, and security tests. Certain attackers even do it for the sake of proving they can.

According to 2020 statistics, data breaches exposed more than 36 billion records in the first half of the year alone. Then there's the growing threat of malware and virus attacks, the increasing pressure on critical sectors such as banking and healthcare, and new strategies such as ransomware.

The pandemic also did not help. As more people became ensconced behind their screens at home, hackers became more active than ever. Indeed, cybercrime has increased 600 percent in the last year and a half.

Defending your website against hackers requires complex strategies that must protect your premises from a variety of threats.

 

Common cybersecurity concerns

We need to establish one thing from the start. Even though a hacker can breach our premises in hundreds of different ways, over 90% of successful attempts are the result of our own errors.

While more businesses are becoming aware of the growing threats, the majority of webmasters continue to lag behind when it comes to securing passwords, hosting accounts, and the site itself.

That is fantastic news for hackers. They can attack your website in a variety of ways, relying on your weak security.

Malware is a broad term that refers to a variety of malicious practices intended to harm your computer, website, or server. Viruses, trojans, worms, spyware, ransomware, and adware are all examples of common malware.

Malicious files can wreak havoc on your system in a variety of ways. Several are designed to recover personally identifiable information from a breached account. Others effectively lock you out of your own system by denying administrative access to critical components. There are even those who wish to obliterate or destroy anything susceptible to infection.

Phishing is one of the most rapidly evolving attack types. Hackers use phishing to impersonate a legitimate entity in order to rob unsuspecting victims of their personal information.

Phishing attacks are frequently carried out via emails or social media messages, with attackers posing as banking institutions, telecommunications companies, or government authorities. They will redirect you to a seemingly legitimate page in order to prompt you to update some vital piece of information. In reality, you'll be providing hackers with your current private information.

Phishing attacks can also take on a variety of shapes and forms, including whaling, spear phishing, and pharming.

DOS and DDoS Attacks - DOS is an acronym for denial-of-service and refers to a type of attack in which the attacker attempts to overload the server by depleting its available system resources. The system gradually degrades in performance until it is rendered completely inoperable.

When we discuss distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, we refer to the process by which a hacker uses multiple infected machines to flood the server with traffic. Again, the goal is to bring your server down and then launch additional attacks.

Botnets, TCP SYN floods, and ping-of-death attacks are all examples of common DOS and DDOS attacks.

SQL Injections - this is a common technique used by hackers to inject malicious code and force it to reveal private user and administrator data. The injections modify the server query language (SQL), which enables you to gain sufficient control over the machine. SQL injection attacks frequently target comment and search boxes.

Cross-Site Scripting - Cross-site scripting (or XSS) is a technique in which attackers combine malicious code with legitimate website content. This enables the script to infect the visitor's browser as well. While XSS attacks frequently make use of malicious JavaScript code, they can also include HTML, CSS, and flash files.

Password Attacks - At the end of the day, our weak passwords continue to be the primary source of our hacker issues. People continue to use simple and easy-to-guess login credentials based on their memorability, which creates a massive opportunity for unauthorized attackers to gain access.

Brute-force and dictionary attacks are two of the most common methods of breaching, and once hackers obtain your password, it's smooth sailing toward the rest of your data.

 

What steps can you take to improve your cybersecurity?

While the situation may appear dire, there is much you can do to mitigate, if not eliminate, the risks listed above. Take a look at any of the following:

• Configuring a firewall
• Code optimization for your website
• Making use of secure software and plugins
• Modifying your administrator's username and login URL
• Adopting a two-factor authentication strategy (2FA)
• Securing your own computer
• Enabling a password management application

And, of course, your hosting provider is right in the middle of it all.

Even before they accept your account, a reputable host applies multiple layers of security - across the data centers, the network, and the server machines. Assuring the environment is completely secure prior to the clients' arrival leaves users with their own security responsibilities.

ScalaHosting takes things a step further by developing in-house solutions to further protect customers from malware and spam. SShield, for example, is a free AI-powered security monitoring tool that detects over 99.998 percent of web attacks.

When it comes to virtual servers, choosing one of these plans eliminates all of the drawbacks associated with the standard shared hosting environment. A VPS gives you complete control over your hosting account, allowing you to fine-tune your security measures.

 

In Conclusion

Today's website owners face a slew of cybersecurity concerns. Hackers' incentives are becoming more lucrative, and even non-commercial projects are not immune. Selecting a secure host and adhering to recommended practices are excellent first steps, but always have a detailed strategy in place to avoid issues down the road.