Web Hosting Reviews & Ratings

April 05, 2010

Web Hosting Security and Viruses

Many online business owners understand the importance of securing financial information, whether it belong to their customers or to themselves. However, many fail to realize the close connection between your web hosting account and your confidential financial data, especially in the world of eCommerce. If someone can gain access to your web hosting account then they can essentially access virtually any information sent to and from your website.

The next time you log into your web hosting control panel, do yourself a favor and take note of all of the things you are capable of doing within that control panel. Anything that can be changed, modified or created within your hosting control panel can be accessed by a hacker if they were to penetrate your hosting account. This means someone could steal your websites, or even redirect checkout pages to their own merchant account. The amount of damage that could be done to your online business overnight could be catastrophic.

Web Hosting Security and Your Hard Drive

Most people fail to realize the connection between their hard drive and their online activities. Every action taken in your web browser is stored on your hard drive. Even after you clear cookies, and “delete” the temporary internet files, all of this information still leaves a footprint on your hard drive, which can be recovered by someone with a powerful recovery software. The only way to get rid of this confidential information is to use a program to run a secure deletion of your files. The primary method used to access someone's hard drive remotely without their permission is to get them to install a trojan on their computer.

Trojans and Keyloggers

At this moment there are thousands of trojans floating around the internet, and if you have owned a computer of more than a year you have probably encountered a few yourself. Once the trojan is installed on your computer, it sends information to the creator of the trojan that lets them do as they please with your operating system by making subtle changes to your registry. Before you know it your CPU usage is jumping to 100% even when your computer is idle! This is because the hacker is actually using your computer to carry out tasks remotely. Some hackers go a step further though, and employ keyloggers which actually record every keystroke you make on you keyboard. This means they have direct access to all of your passwords, from online banking to hosting account credentials.

Securing your Hosting Account by Securing your Computer

Perhaps the first step you should take in securing your hosting account would be to completely secure your computer. Keeping your hard drive safe from intruders should be high on your list of priorities even if you are not an online business owner. The only way to prevent the problems mentioned above would be to have a competent and powerful antivirus software. Use a professional grade antivirus suite such as Kaspersky.

Tags: keylogger,  hacker,  confidential data,  antivirus,  web hosting security,  viruses,  trojan