Securing your website

espinda’s shared servers are regularly updated with the latest security patches and configured to make your server as secure as possible. While we maintain your server’s security, there are additional steps you can take to make your website secure.

Keep your password secure

Do not tell anyone your passwords, if you suspect someone may have access to your passwords, then change them. Remembering to consider including control panel, FTP, mailboxes, SQL databases and control panel passwords.

password should be:

- Easy to remember but impossible to guess: Be creative with your passwords. If you use a word that is easy to guess, someone just might.

Avoid the following:
- your name, your partner’s name or your child’s name
- your domain name or email address
- your date of birth
- your favourite sports team.
- Your password should be something that you can easily remember, because you want to avoid having to write it down.

- Not a word in common usage: Often, hackers will use software that tries a long list of words as your password. If you use a commonly used word, spelt correctly, you could fall victim to such an atttack.

Make sure your password has the following:
at least two numbers
numbers instead of letters – e.g. 3 instead of e.
Example: you could use your car and the year you bought it: f0rdm0nd302004, instead of fordmondeo. 

Check permissions

Run any services you use on the lowest possible permissions. If you have a website connected to an SQL database, ensure that the website only has access to the tasks it needs. Remember to check website folder, exchange public folder and database user permissions.

Keep third party software up to date

Ensure that any third-party scripts or web applications are fully up to date.

Do you have forums, blogging software, content management or an ecommerce system? These are often a target for hackers and vendors of such software publish security updates to combat possible attacks. Regularly visit the software’s website and check for security updates/new versions.

Maintain security on your computer

Periodically run a thorough spyware check on any computer that you use to access your control panel, or that you use to access your web space with FTP or FrontPage. In particular, check for key logging software, which monitors what you type into the computer and sends it to malicious third parties.

There are a number of free or commercially available products available to help you to keep your personal computer secure.

• Posted on Sunday, May 31st, 2009

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