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Can a Web Hosting Service Provider Prevent Hacking?
The web hosting service provider is an organization that stores your website files in their secured web servers and provides access to those via the internet. Apart from providing you with storage and bandwidth, many modern web hosting services even go beyond the security measures to protect websites from any kind of attacks on the web.
The hosting services provider manages all of the security at the infrastructure level, which includes:
- Security of the physical data center
- Security of server hardware and networks
- Updates for the operating system and server software
- Firewall and intrusion detection system
- DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) protection
- Scanning of malware at the server level
- Backup & disaster recovery systems
Can a Web Hosting Service Provider Prevent Hacking?
Web hosting service providers may be able to protect against hacking through various security measures like firewalls, malware scanning, DDoS protection, automatic security updates, SSL certificates, and continuous monitoring. But they mainly have to do with the security of the server. Owners of the websites should also use strong passwords and security best practices, and keep software up to date to reduce the risk of hacking.
How Web Hosting Providers Help Prevent Hacking
A good web hosting service will be very well protected with regard to security infrastructure. Let’s see how they help to keep your site secure.
1. Server-Level Firewalls and Network Security
A majority of the web hosting companies have WAFs and network firewalls in place, which help filter out all bad traffic from reaching your website. This firewall will stop any attack on your website, whether it be an SQL Injection attack, an XSS attack, or Brute Force attack.
2. Regular Software and Security Patching
The hosting provider needs to upgrade the software installed in the server, which may include the operating system, control panel (such as cPanel or Plesk), PHP version, and database, among others. The easiest target for hackers is the outdated software running on the server.
3. Malware Scanning and Removal
There are several hosting plans that have automated malware scan tools, which will detect and quarantine the malicious files. If your site is compromised, premium hosts may offer cleaning services that remove malware from your website without a charge, reducing the downtime and damage.
4. DDoS Protection
DDoS attacks overburden a server with bogus traffic and cause a website to be overwhelmed. A good host will also be able to distribute these attacks and block your site from going down using traffic filtering and content delivery networks (CDNs).
5. Isolated Hosting Environments
When it comes to shared hosting, hacking of one of the accounts can affect others as well. A good hosting company will protect your site from spreading throughout the server by means of account isolation technology.
6. SSL/TLS Certificates
The majority of hosting providers today will offer you a free SSL certificate (such as Let’s Encrypt). In this way, the information is encrypted when sent between your website and visitors. This also eliminates man-in-the-middle attacks and ensures that the sensitive information (including passwords and financial details) is protected.
7. Automated Backups
Backup does NOT protect from hackers, but is a must for recovery! Professional web hosts back up the site on a daily or weekly basis, so in case the site gets hacked, you will be able to recover your site easily.
8. 24/7 Monitoring and Support
Enterprise or Managed web hosting companies have watchdogs that monitor server actions constantly, detect any suspicious activity, and take appropriate measures against new threats.
Benefits of Choosing a Secure Web Hosting Service Provider
A web hosting service provider that provides secure hosting will be able to provide you with secured website, protect sensitive information, reduce risks of malware attacks, increase website availability, provide faster recovery after failure, increase customers’ trust, improve SEO, and monitor new cyber threats.
Shared vs. VPS vs. Dedicated vs. Managed Hosting: Which Is More Secure?
Your choice of hosting can play a crucial part in your overall safety.
- Shared Hosting is the most affordable, but potentially a dangerous one, since it is a collection of multiple websites hosted on one server. Under exceptional conditions, one website might take advantage of this vulnerability and affect other websites on the same server.
- VPS (Virtual Private Server) Hosting is more isolated, has its own resources, and practically never contaminates other accounts, but it is somewhat more expensive.
- If you need a solution for websites that require high traffic, or sensitive solutions like eCommerce sites, Dedicated Hosting gives you the greatest level of customization and safety by providing you with the sole use of a server.
- Managed Hosting, especially Managed WordPress Hosting, is often the most secure choice for people without technical skills, as in this case, your hosting company is responsible for software updates, patches, malware scans, and backups of your website.
Best Practices to Prevent Hacking Beyond Hosting
Even though hosting companies will do all that is necessary from their side, here are the main precautions you should take to ensure your safety:
- Always use unique passwords and even two-factor authentication when it is available.
- It is very important that you use the latest version of your CMS, plugins, and themes.
- Try reducing your attack surface by getting rid of the unused plugins, themes, and admin accounts.
- Install the WordFence or Sucuri security plugin in WordPress for added protection.
- Set up limitations for the login attempts and CAPTCHA on the login page.
- Back up your website regularly, along with the backup from the host.
- Use HTTPS All The Time to secure the data transit.
- Set permissions to the minimal level.
- Use security tools/plugins to monitor the activity on your website.
- Educate all the users and admins about phishing/social engineering attacks.
How to Choose a Hosting Provider With Strong Security
The following security features should be considered when selecting web hosts:
- Free SSL certificates
- Web Application Firewall (WAF)
- Automated backups are daily, with the option to restore
- Tools for malware scanning and removal
- DDoS protection
- Two-factor authentication to log into your account
- Positive uptime and security record
- Responsive 24/7 support
- Security policies and incident response policy
The security page or SLA of a host will help you know about the level of importance they give to security, as will reading reviews independently.
Conclusion
An efficient web hosting company keeps the risk of hacking of websites to a minimum because of its secure systems, firewalls, anti-malware software, SSL certificates, backups, and continuous monitoring. However, complete security of websites can be achieved only if the web hosting company and the site administrators are both efficient at cybersecurity.