Web Hosting Box

It was reported by Commtouch (www.commtouch.com), an IT service provider on Tuesday that their latest case study exposes that the Web hosting provider Hostway (www.hostway.com) is becoming successful due to the application of the outbound spam protection by Commtouch.

Hostway offers a provision of services to around 1.4 million websites and 600,000 customers all over the world. These services include cloud hosting, shared hosting, and managed hosting, domain name registration and ecommerce solutions. It was also learnt from the case study that Hostway uses Outbound Spam Protection as an in-house security measure in order to keep a check on all outbound mail traffic.

The usage of Commtouch’s outbound spam protection has enabled the company to recognize conceded and phished accounts along with trickling spam which otherwise they were not able to spot due to low set rate limits.

The blockage of outbound spam in immediate time with the help of Commtouch’s solution has barred Hostway from being debarred by major ISPs.

The executive vice president of Hostway, Todd Benjamin says, “Spammers were using phished accounts to send spam out from our network, so we were looking for a solution to recover compromised accounts, block spammers and prevent our IP addresses from being blacklisted. Our Commtouch inbound solution was working so successfully for us, we naturally turned to Commtouch for outbound spam protection.”

Also, Commtouch says, “Its outbound spam protection can prevent customer loss, damage to service providers’ reputation and brand, operational cost increases and even potential lawsuits caused by spam, malware and phishing emails emanating from their networks.”

With the help of the Commtouch’s solution, service providers can stop receiving undesirable emails and have also been able to provide instant sender identification which looks into the matter and resolves it right there.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had committed an online sting which had been closed down because of the public concern apropos its content. According to The Smoking Gun (TSG), a criminal activity investigating news supplier, the website of the Precious Treasure Holiday Company (PTHC) had been deferred lately by the Massachusetts-based web hosting firm. This was done as the site displayed an agency offering trips from United States to Canada which involved indulgence in sexual activity of customers with minors. It was also stated by The Smoking Gun (TSG) that the government had sprung Precious Treasure Holiday Company (PTHC) the previous year as an effort to recognize and impeach pedophiles. In addition to that it also said that the disguised website of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was directed to the sentence of at least one perpetrator because of felony charges which resulted in a prison sentence of 20 years. Other than that, another man had been blamed of collaborating to transfer an 8 year old from Canada to America for the intent of indulging in sexual activity. The Account Executive of the web hosting firm, Jason Crawford said that that his company had adjourned Precious Treasure Holiday Company (PTHC) after they had caught objections of its content. Crawford also said that he did not have any knowledge of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of creating this website. He also added that in case of presence of child pornography on the website, they will have to contact the FBI. On the other hand, the Secretary of Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Janet Napolitano has demanded for an upsurge in the Federal funding so as to keep a check on the security threats surfacing cyber. It was a wish by her the previous week from the lawmakers to assign $57 billion to the agency in the 2012 fiscal year. This is an increase from $56.3 billion that were recommended by President Barack Obama. Napolitano said, “The threats we face pose new challenges that require an innovative and focused response.”

The majority of web hosting security issues are caused by flaws within web application. In fact, producing a 100% secure Web application is a very difficult task that only the most experienced developers can accomplish. In many cases, web developers are paid on a per project basis, and therefore rush to finish the project without putting a large emphasis on the security of the application and whether or not it will compromise the safety of the user’s web hosting account and computer. Thus, most of the serious security lapses caused by such applications are not recognized or realized until they cause a significant amount of loss or damage to a webmaster. To avoid becoming such a webmaster and to secure your online operations, you may want to consider the following information about securing web applications.

Utilizing Complex Programming Languages

One way programmers make web applications more secure is by developing them in more complex programming languages that are less popular amongst hackers. For example, the PHP programming language is extremely popular and can be found in nearly every content management system web application promoted online. However, this popularity makes it much easier for novice and experienced hackers to exploit the weaknesses of a web application developed using PHP. While not all PHP web applications are unsafe, by utilizing less popular programming languages such as Microsoft ASP it is possible to significantly reduce the likelihood of having your site or web hosting account hacked.

Testing the Security of a Web Application

Before utilizing a web application it is important to ensure that it is completely secured, and does not provide any loopholes through which hackers can gain access to the administrative interface of your web hosting account. Hackers are known for using any means necessary to infiltrate online interfaces and gain control of websites, and the most popular types of web hosting exploit used today relies upon web hosting applications. Hackers may distribute dangerous web applications that are installed on the victims’ Web servers, at which point the hacker can request and send information to and from the server freely. Once this happens, an entire universe of opportunities opens up for the hacker, giving them the ability to extract information from your website’s databases, and even change the content of the sites (a tactic known as ‘defacing’). To test the security of the web application you may need to hire your own programmer, or use proprietary packing software to test security holes.

Working with Reputable Programmers

Perhaps one of the best ways to avoid unsecured web applications is to utilize the services of a reputable programmers, rather than installing free applications that are in the public domain. Hackers distribute free applications with the hopes that webmasters will install them on their server, thereby giving them the aforementioned access needed to carry out a variety of nefarious tasks. By working with a team of reliable and reputable programmers you can ensure that your web applications are developed to accommodate all of your specific requirements and specifications.

Plixer International, Inc., an internationally recognized company for monitoring of net traffic and providing analysis tools, has released Scrutinizer NetFlow and Flow Analyzer version 8.5, which would enables user to manage network security systems with more flexibility.

Scrutinizer is software for network monitoring and control which works in a lot of detail with network utilization information for users and apps that account for highest traffic. Incorporating the NetFlow Technology by Cisco, a technology which is an IOS software feature now used widely in switches and routers), Scrutinizer can make use of traffic flow data so that it can be presented graphically for a concise, intuitive view.

The Scrutinizer 8.5 version has been enhanced to include reports on Cisco’s new Network Performance Monitoring for Medianets. Also a new Flow Analytics algorithm has been included for Cisco Performance Monitor reports which show VoIP features like jitter, packet loss and latency. The limitations of IP SLA have been circumvented in this new technology to provide companies a deeper look into the call quality of each VoIP connection and video stream.

Scrutinizer extensively supports Flexible NetFlow (The latest NetFlow version) so that it comprehensively implements Cisco Performance Monitor Reports.

The latest version of Scrutinizer also makes available Mailinizer Email Analyzer as a core feature. Mailinizer can be customized in detail to offer in-depth views of email server communications for Microsoft Exchange administrators.

Other features of Scrutinizer include styling and graphing with updating of the Google map engine.

International customers have shown recognition for the advantages of Scrutinizer for analyzing network traffic. Presently organizations like AT&T, Jaguar land River, the State of Oregon and the United Stated Department of Defense have started utilizing the benefits of Scrutinizer’s advanced NetFlow reporting capabilities.

Product Manager at Plixer, Michael Patterson said,

We take customer feedback very seriously because our customers are knowledgeable IT experts…..If a feature is requested and makes sense, we will incorporate it.

Go Daddy has a supreme reputation for its attractive Super Bowl advertisements, however very few people are aware that the leading web hosting provider of the world is also a strong fort against internet attacks. Go Daddy does its best in trying to keep people and their important data safe on the internet by countering more than 100 million intrusions each day. Recently the company was given recognition for having the IT industry’s “Best Security Team” on the occasion of the 14^th annual SC Magazine Awards, held in San Francisco.

The IT Security Team at Go Daddy gives protection to over 46 million domain names under its web hosting service, more than 8.8 million customers, and is the DNS authority behind one-third of the online world, thus enabling users to have a safe online journey.

Operating since 6 years, the IT Security team at Go Daddy has grown from an individual to a team of more than 50 members. The team is geared to work round the clock efficiently in the 24/7 Network and Security Operations Centers.

The effectiveness of security measures at Go Daddy can be gauged from the “Hackfest” event organized internally for the team. In this event team members work with developers form in-house departments to seek vulnerability in products. This approach gives added security to Go Daddy products and lets the rest of the company be familiar with security processes.

Millions of people depend on Go Daddy to be their personal IT security department, which allows our customers to focus on building their businesses and enhancing their Web presence,” explained Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. “Go Daddy is working hard all day, every day to protect our customers’ websites … it’s an honor to see our IT Security Team recognized with this award from SC Magazine.