Most people see web hosting has a necessary part of doing business. They understand that if they don’t have web hosting, they can’t get their website on the Internet. But from the standpoint of many, all web hosting is created the same. They are happy if they are not paying too much money for web hosting, and their site is up and available when they go online.
Many people do not understand the far-reaching consequences their choice of web hosting will have not only on their website’s performance but also on the site’s security and the long-term reputation of their business. Good web hosting is an excellent investment. It offers a quantifiable, tangible, long-term return on investment.
If the web hosting provider you choose is not reliable, your business is going to struggle with inconsistent performance, unwanted downtime, and security issues that could put your private data and the private data of your clients at risk. If you had a customer who wanted to purchase something from your e-commerce store, but they could not complete the transaction because of a security glitch or a glitch with the web server, you would lose that customer forever.
Appreciating the Link between Web Hosting and Security
According to Clark School’s study at the University of Maryland, a hacker attack occurs every 39 seconds in the US. Small businesses are usually an easy target for hackers ’cause their cybersecurity infrastructure is not nearly as hackerproof as it’s a common practice for some bigger companies. Securing your company properly costs a lot less than a data breach.
When most people think about online security, the first thing they think about is services like a VPN. And it’s true that when used properly, a good VPN can boost your company’s online security by encrypting and creating a secure tunnel for the data you are transmitting over your network. However, your web hosting service plays an even more valuable role in keeping your business and website safe. Basically, it all starts with choosing a secure web hosting solution for your company.
First, you need to understand that regardless of the size of your business, some cybercriminals and hackers want to get access to the data on your website. Small businesses are not immune. They are a favorite target of cybercriminals and hackers because most lack the security protocols you would find with larger organizations.
For this reason, it is essential to take critical steps to guarantee that your web hosting provider is giving you the best security measures to protect your site. This includes getting rid of malware and having other scanners in place to identify and eliminate malicious code that hackers need to try to introduce.
A good web host provider is going to have a powerful policy that protects you from distributed denial of service attacks. A distributed denial of service attack can render your website useless. By bombarding your side with so many fake visitors, it can slow things down to where legitimate visitors cannot gain access to your site. Your web host provider is key in guaranteeing that your hosting system is accessible even if there is a cyber-attack.
Few things are as frustrating as having your website hacked and then losing all of your data. The implications for an online business are catastrophic. A data breach and data loss at this level could put your business out of commission permanently. Here again, is another reason it’s important to know what your web hosting provider is doing to protect your data and how they are backing up your data.
You should inquire about what data is being backed up. You should know how frequently the hosting provider is backing up the data. And you should know where that backed up data is stored. You should have unfettered access to that data and the ability to restore your website from the backup seamlessly.
To sum this up, any type of cyberattack, from malware to a potential data breach, should be considered, so you can protect your data the best way possible. Your web hosting provider should prioritize security above all.
Things to Consider When Choosing Shared Hosting
You are likely starting to see that web hosting has a tremendous impact on your website. If you choose the wrong hosting, you could leave your site open to exploitation. You could put your site at risk.
This is often the case when considering shared hosting. Shared hosting is popular because it’s cheap. And many businesses, when they first start out, are looking for the lowest cost option. But there are so many drawbacks to security.
Shared hosting works because there are multiple sites that share the same infrastructure. And that’s where all the problems start.
From a security perspective, shared hosting can open up your site to be exploited by something from another site that is sharing the same host with you. Shared hosting means that someone else’s mess could affect you. If there is another site on your server that has weak security measures or if they fail to regularly update plug-ins, you will probably suffer the consequences, including shutdowns, code injections, and cyber-attacks. The lack of isolation seen on shared hosting can undo all of your best efforts to keep your site secure, safe, and strong.
Your Hosting Provider Can Make Your Online Security Easy or a Challenge
Keeping your hosting secure can be a time-consuming task. The amount of time it consumes depends a great deal on what company you are using as a hosting provider and the hosting plan you have.
If you choose a cheap shared hosting provider, your security could be a nightmare. On the flip side, a great private hosting provider, such as those that offer dedicated hosting or a VPS, can make security a dream. Most web hosting companies offer services that are somewhere in the middle of the two extremes.
Finding the right hosting provider is going to take some time. It is worth it for you to put thought into how you want to manage your website security.
If, after looking at all the pros and cons, you decide to use shared hosting, putting a little effort into the search process may lead to you finding a plan and a vendor that works for your security needs. The key is to ask the right questions going in.
- What will you do to help me keep my website secure?
- How will you respond if my website is defaced or exploited?
- What denial of service protection do you offer?
- What is your policy for handling backups? How easy is it to restore backups?
Getting the answers to these simple questions can help you determine if the web hosting company manages security in a way that’s right for you. This is the only way you will find a provider that will keep your site as secure as you want it to be.
Keep reading the article at WPArena. The article was originally written by Muhammad Abdullah on 2020-09-15 09:05:00.
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