Security threats
Choosing a dedicated host server rather than shared hosting plan has a lot of perks. You have complete control on the server and will have free reign to customize everything to fit your business or ideas. With all these control at your fingertips, a dedicated server hosting plan will shoulder you with a lot more responsibility than its counterpart. For one, if you have more than one account registered then it is up to you to update and maintain all the securities necessary in case of a virus attack and such. It all comes down to you when it comes to protecting your server.
But what if you don’t have the experience and knowledge of the dangers you’ll commonly face online? That’s where this article comes in, I will shed some light on the problem to help you be more vigilant and reduce the chances of damages inflicted by viruses.
The DoS Attack
The DoS or “denial of service” attack is one of the most prevalent and infuriating problems encountered when facilitating your own host server. This attack is primarily directed at business websites and can completely hinder your online revenue. It consists of attackers incorporating several malicious computers to flood your website with traffic making your website crash and become unavailable preventing potential customers’ entry to your website.
There are a couple of main defense against this attack, first and foremost is to have a server host that is connected to an updated and fairly powerful hardware with a vast resources. Next is to check if your provider is using a high quality security system themselves and monitor your traffic generation round the clock for any inadequacies or sudden spikes.
Malwares
Malwares are extensive and consists of viruses, trojans, spywares and worms. These malicious programs damage your computer by downloading important files, history and even keystrokes. The main concern about malwares is that they easily be hidden within a legitimate program installer or files. Preventing them is simple enough, make sure you have an updated anti-virus database and scan each new files and programs that you have in your computer. Scan every installer, no exceptions, and you can greatly reduce the chance of a very dangerous malware from infecting your server.
Password Breach
Unfortunately, as we upgrade our online protection from virus attacks, hackers have also upgraded their tools to steal valuable data and create even more advanced form of malwares. It has become much more common for hackers to steal passwords from server host planners due to the minimal protection and readiness of some providers to these types of attacks. A more steadfast password policy is needed to be implemented especially in the server hosting as a lot of users are in danger of this attack.
To prevent theft of your passwords to your site, you will need a good quality software that handles this problems and to manually make you passwords harder to decipher. The best technique is to have a seemingly random jumble of letters with capitals, symbols and numbers as your password because words, names and phrases are easier to be stolen by hackers. Also, changing your password every week is an efficient way of preventing data theft online. If you have multiple servers connected don’t use the same password on all of them. Assign different passwords and change them every week.
These are the most common security risks that come with having a dedicated server host. Know that studying and researching about new ways to protect your computer will always be the best solution. Keep you ant-virus program up to date and monitor your system resources for any irregularities like a program that’s eating too much resource and report any findings to your server host provider. Like in all cases, prevention is better than cure when it comes to online security threats.
