Typical Security Concerns in Shared Hosting
Most new and existing website owners are concerned about the data security of their websites. The reason for this is that there are numerous news revealing that government or business websites have been hacked such as those of eBay. This is considered to be a significant concern since some of these businesses have global operations and therefore any information hacks can result in significant losses not only on the business but also to their customers.
Shared Hosting Concerns
Webhost providers advertise that their dedicated or VPS hosting packages have a better information security protocol when compared to those that purchase shared hosting packages. Unfortunately, a high number of website owners under a webhost provider are primarily using shared hosting rather than the other webhosting offerings. The reason for this is that the monthly rate of a shared hosting is considerably lower than the monthly rates of VPS and dedicated hosting packages.
The problem with this is that most website owners will only take measures of increasing their security protections when their website security has already been breached. Remember that hackers will always target those websites that they assume to have a weak security especially newly created business websites.
Database Security and Shared Servers
Some security experts recommend that separation of the website database from the website management and content. The purpose of this is to prevent the hacker from acquiring and erasing the information stored in the database when a webhost server is breached. However, separating the server from the database will mean additional steps for the website owner as well as their new and existing customers. This potential hazard can be minimized if the website owner chooses a reputable webhost provider that can give hosting credit for hacking attempts.
Pitfalls of Shared Hosting Revealed
The main consideration for the security weakness in shared hosting is that it shares the same server as well as the IP address. The problem with this is that the server still stores all the data of multiple websites and therefore accessing the server can result in data mining. This is despite the fact that webhost providers promote that shared hosting website owners will have a separate space for their website content.
Some of the most common issues are:
- Sharing a single IP
- CPU and Memory
- Hackers
Sharing a Single IP
The main problem of a single IP address under a shared hosting package is that the server is:
- shared by many individuals
- not all of these website owners will follow good website management techniques
Therefore if another website owner makes a serious mistake such as being banned from popular search engines then the website included in the same IP address may also be banned too. Thus even though some website owners are following good management techniques they will still get penalized by the mistakes of other website owners. This is considered to be a significant concern especially for a website owner that is only starting to get recognized or improved its website traffic.
CPU and Memory
Most webhost providers guarantee that a website owner will have more than enough disk space allotted in their servers. However, the CPU power and RAM of the server is still shared by numerous website owners therefore if any website owner takes more cycle power then the website operations of other website owners will slow down. This is the main drawback of sharing a single server with multiple website owners and therefore is the reason why some large companies prefer to purchase a dedicated or VPS hosting package.
Hacking Problems of Other Website Owners
The main problem of a shared hosting package is in case the website of the same server was hacked. This means that the security of the information in the entire server is considered to be also vulnerable to attack. The result of this is that the information of the other websites are more vulnerable resulting in future security problems. However, the problem of website attacks can be minimized if the chosen webhost provider has a better security feature embedded in their shared hosting packages.
Prevention of Information Attacks
The main strategy that a website owner will have to implement under a shared hosting package is to be always prepared especially with information attacks. This can be done by discussing security issues with the webhost provider such as the cage structure used by the webhost provider. Website developers reveal that a webhost provider using an implemented cage structure has a better level of security than those that do not have a cage structure.
A second strategy is to ask if the webhost provider allows the website owners to embed unsolicited binary code during the website development. The reason for this is that binary codes can be a source of entry for hackers especially if these are not properly checked by the programmers of the webhost providers.