Ronald B Stamets, Web Site Design and Development Services

Security of your website

Although server security is generally handled by the server administration team, the end responsibility for ensuring the security of your website is with you... The website owner.

Most websites today are virtual hosted. In simple terms, Virtual hosts are hundreds or thousands of directories on a real server. Each directory has a unique IP and the DNS server points your domain name to it.

On a virtual server, it is difficult, if not impossible to really manage any security. Why? Because if the "other guy" has poorly written server side code, he may compromise the server... and all of it's info.

Unless your plans include hosting on a dedicated server (No one else is on it), your best security is to:
1. Validate form data before storing it in a database or file.
2. Encrypt pages that request personal information. Or use a recognized gateway for financial transactions.
3. If you must retain any sensitive information. Get it off your server as quickly as possible, and only store it in a computer that is not connected to the internet.

Contact us for security suggestions