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    SSH Communications Security Announces Universal SSH Key Manager Solution

    November 16, 2015 — by Andreas — 0

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    At the Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit 2015 in London, SSH Communications Security announced its Universal SSH Key Manager (UKM) solution is available as a virtual application, free to download and trial. To get a trial license, visit https://info.ssh.com/trial-ssh-key-manager-beta.

    Using UKM, businesses can map infrastructure authorizations and implement standard Secure Shell key policies across their entire network quickly without disrupting any already compliant processes. Major enterprises, financial institutions, and federal agencies can use UKM to benefit their practices in a variety of ways.

    To better streamline operations UKM includes a user portal enabling organizations to allow users to manage their own keys, still implementing defined policies and standards compliance. Organizations will be able to lower their costs and make their users more productive, while meeting requirements in standards such as PCI-DSS, NIST and HIPAA.

    The appliance is available for trials today, so it is easy to get started testing, and an updated release with the user portal functionality will be rolled out during Q42015.

    “Organizations are struggling to manage Secure Shell keys in a way that is easy to use, centralized and delivers strong security and compliance to boot,” shared Matthew McKenna, chief commercial officer, SSH Communications Security. “Universal SSH Key Manager is a purpose-built, budget-friendly key management solution that helps organizations achieve compliance with Secure Shell key authorizations within even the most complicated network environments. Our customers have found the Universal SSH Key Manager to be flexible and non-disruptive to their business, and this new release will further extend our lead in enabling compliance and productivity.”

    SSH Communications Security is inventor of the SSH protocol, with a twenty-year history of leading the market in developing advanced security solutions that enable, monitor, and manage encrypted networks. The company’s encryption is trusted by over 3,000 customers globally, who also rely on SSH Communications Security’s access control and encrypted channel monitoring solutions, used to meet compliance requirements, improve security posture and save on operational costs.

    SSH Communications Security is headquartered in Helsinki with offices in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Shares (SSH1V) are quoted on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki, and more information about SSH Communications Security is available online at www.ssh.com.

    At the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit 2015, security and risk leaders discussed skills and strategies needed to maintain cost-effective security and risk management programs in order to support digital business and drive enterprise success. These leaders are working to embrace new approaches to digital business, while maintaining proven control architecture that mitigates enterprise risk for success.

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    How to Choose the Right Host for Your Website

    October 29, 2015 — by Andreas — 0

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    You need a web hosting company to provide you with services that connect your site to the internet, allowing you to connect with your customers online – but there are tons of hosts out there, and it can be tough to narrow down the options to find one that is perfect for your company!

    Your website is only as good as your web host, and any issues with your hosting company will translate to problems with your website and unhappy customers. Bearing this in mind, your first decision relates to what type of hosting you’ll choose. There are many hosting plans out there, but these are the most common types of hosting plans.

    Individual plans are affordable, providing hosting support for a single domain only. You may find that this plan is limited in terms of features, bandwidth, and data storage, but if you are just starting out as a webmaster and don’t need a lot of traffic support or bells and whistles, this is an economical, user-friendly way to get started. Often times you will be sharing space on your hosting server with other webmasters, so you may hear this called a shared hosting plan.

    Dedicated servers provide you with your own server, for a higher price. This opens up new doors to you, allowing you to try new features and support more traffic. If you think you may eventually need a dedicated server but want to start with a shared hosting plan, be sure your web host offers both types of plans so you can upgrade in the future without a big hassle.

    In between these types of plans are reseller accounts. Reseller hosts allow their clients to set up multiple individual plans on one account. It’s relatively inexpensive, and lets you run several smaller websites without needing multiple accounts or plans to do so.

    Now that you know what types of plans are out there, and have made your decision, you have to decide on the web host itself. Obviously, you’ll need a web host that provides the type of plan you want, so be sure to read through all of your options and consider your future needs.

    You will also need to consider cost. It’s important to stay within your budget, but try to not be tempted by free hosting programs. These hosts are often unreliable and may require you to advertise on your website, for the web host or other advertisers – this is how the hosting plan is free or low-cost. Everything on your website should relate to your business, so this is never a good idea for a company site. You can talk to your preferred web host about the costs of their plans and see if there are any discounts or cost savings available, if you think hosting might cost too much.

    You can also check out customer reviews to help you evaluate web hosts. Are people generally happy with this host, or do they frequently run into problems? Reading real-life reviews is a good way to know how a business actually operates, instead of relying on what the web host tells you. Check multiple review sites and read a variety of reviews to get a good idea of what people think of your prospective host.

    Speaking of customer reviews – how will the host support you, if you become a client? If you need lots of assistance as a new webmaster, be sure that the host can provide that to you. You need a dependable, reliable, helpful web host to help you through any issues that come up, whether this is all-new to you, or you have experience. Make sure your web host responds to issues and questions quickly, as time is often money in the online world, especially when it comes to keeping your own customers happy. A good web host is available to you 24/7 in a variety of ways, from phone support to online chats, email access, and helpdesk tickets. Find out what customer support your host offers before committing to anything.

    Security is important, too. If you are handling customer transactions or sensitive data, it is vital to know that this information is protected – you can reassure your clients that all is well, if you are able to trust your web host. Make sure that the appropriate privacy and security measures are taken to keep all of your information, and your clients’ information, as safe as possible.

    Consider storage and bandwidth allowances. Your website may take up more space than you think! Many hosts are moving toward unlimited disk space and bandwidth, but don’t assume that this is always the case. Ensure that your storage and bandwidth allowances are more than adequate for your business as-is, and any projected growth in the future. It can be annoying and expensive to try to tack on additional space after the fact, so do your best to ensure you start out with everything you need.

    Finally, be sure to inquire about script support when choosing your web host. The hosting company’s built-in support for popular web scripts should factor into your choice, if you use them. If you would like to run WordPress on your website, look for a host that offers easy installation, and be aware of any MySQL database limitations. Your potential web host should have a list of scripts that it supports, and those that are available to install easily, so make a note of what scripts you need and double-check that the support is available.

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    Making a Crash Plan for Your Website

    October 22, 2015 — by Andreas — 0

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    You might not think you need a crash plan for your website, but emergencies and strange situations can crop up at any time.

    Paul Capizzi, vice president of technology for SBLI USA, shared the issues his customer-facing websites faced in August 2003, during a widespread blackout.

    “We had a good plan in place, but when the power is down for that long and you don’t have a redundant data center, there’s only so much you can do,” he said.

    It is impossible to completely prevent an outage, but businesses should take care to have a crash plan in place. Using technology and the assistance of hosting partners, you can ensure that downtime is minimal, and unnecessary downtime is non-existent. This helps you quickly restore service, too, so your customers will not deal with connectivity issues for long. Overall, a crash plan should be in place to minimize the impact an outage will have on your business and your clients.

    In Capizzi’s case, redundancy was the way to go. His company hosts its own sites and data center, has multiple ISPs, and backups for web servers and battery power. This keeps customers connected to the website and meets all of the demand on the business websites, as well as ensuring reliability and data protection.

    How can you justify a crash plan, and the infrastructure needed to prevent an outage? You first must consider how much your online operations impact your business revenue. If downtime directly translates to lost sales, or lost customers, it is easy to tell that you should have a plan in place. If you aren’t sure how your website impacts your business overall, conduct a study to be able to properly value your online presence.

    Options for infrastructure can be complex, like Capizzi’s, or you can simply ask your web host for a static page that will display a message indicating your site is down but will be back, branded with your company information so your users still feel connected to you instead of reaching a generic error page. This is likely a good solution if your website solely exists to generate leads and give customers basic information – if they encounter the static page they may simply try again later, or find another way to get in contact with the company.

    However, if you rely on your website for business transactions, downtime will cost revenue and customers, as well as time and money spent on restoration. If this is the case for your company you will want a more robust crash plan than a static page!

    Your first step should be performing regular, daily backups of the systems your website accesses. Don’t trust the backups to be safe and complete without testing them – be sure to actually check your backups to ensure they are working correctly and contain the data you need. You can do this easily, by uploading a file, deleting it, and requesting that your hosting company retrieve it. The host should be able to do this quickly, and if they cannot, you may have a problem. You should also backup your site on your own, regularly, so you have multiple options for restoring.

    Be aware of what your hosting options cover and make sure you are working with a provider who has a good track record for up time. Choose a responsive, reliable host, and you will be glad you did so if you need assistance in an emergency. You will want a host that can respond to your issues as quickly as possible, and work with you to get your website up and running before it causes problems for your customers.

    While choosing a hosting provider, consider whether you want shared hosting or a virtual private server – shared hosting is less expensive but poses security issues for data and customer orders. You can contract with various ISPs or hosting companies, or single-source your web host with one provider. Single-sourcing is less reliable for availability, so working with multiple vendors is a good way to protect against points of failure.

    Log and monitor your data yourself, instead of simply relying on your web host. Be sure to maintain clear, comprehensive logs – note any changes to the site, who made them, and when, as you will need all of these details if you are faced with a restoration following downtime. Monitoring your data through a dedicated service is a good way to know if you are experiencing outages in certain locations.

    If you do experience an outage, this is where your crash plan comes into play – don’t panic, but be sure to implement it as soon as possible. Your first contact should be your hosting company, which can look into the issue on their end and determine if it’s a hosting problem or something on your end. You can take this time to reach out to clients and other contacts and let them know that your site is down, giving them an estimated restoration time if you have that information. It’s important to continually update your customers so they know what to expect, without inundating them with information. Make your updates available to whoever wants or needs them.

    You can contact IT professionals for greater assistance, if you are out of your league or have reached the end of what you can do on your own. This may cost more money, but remember that every minute your site is down translates to long-term impacts on your business. Paying for emergency services is one way to get your site restored quickly and effectively, so you can get back to work without losing your client base permanently.

     

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    Microsoft may be forced to disclose the e-mail to USA, stored in Ireland

    September 18, 2015 — by Andreas — 0

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    This month the American police and Microsoft met in the courtroom. The case concerns about US technology companies will be forced to disclose the data on servers located abroad.

    In this specific case police want Microsoft to disclose e-mails belonging to a person involved in a drug investigation. Microsoft says no to this and refers to the servers is Ireland, where the European legislation does not have to give out any information.

    “If the authorities wins this case, this can lead to large consequences for the entire cloud industry,” says Peter North Beck, a lawyer at the law firm Delphi to IDG.

    “This may mean that those who signed an agreement with US cloud companies can not feel confident that their information not be disclosed. Although it is in agreement that there is European legislation in force. There is an uncertainty one must consider, a risk assessment must be done, he says. ”

    Today, many Swedish authorities and municipalities is using American cloud services with the view that the service is protected by EU law but now all that is changing.

    “It will be a difficult situationt for companies too. They must comply with EU law in their contracts, while they have to follow the US and disclose data if authorities require. Laws against each other, “says Peter North Beck.

    The case has been on the map before in American courtroom and twice before Microsoft has lost. It becomes a negative decision in this case could mean the end of American cloud services in Europe.

    It can not be excluded, but we have to hope that it does not go that far. That in turn would mean a competitive advantage for Swedish and European companies. But it remains to be seen, says Peter North Beck.

    Miss Hosting, we protect all of our customers’ data and all servers are located in Sweden. We help everyone from private individuals and small companies to leading corporate groups that want to prevent the communication of a sudden end up with competitors or becomes publicly available. Protect your information and select a reliable supplier today!

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    Perfect time to change your host

    August 28, 2015 — by Andreas — 0

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    Is it time to change your web hosting company? Right now is the perfect time to do so, Miss hosting is offering FREE migration from your existing hosting company to any of our VPS solutions or Dedicated servers.

    Not only do we take the hassle of migration off your hands we have some of the most competitive pricing in the industry, check out any of our Dedicated server or VPS solutions for the deal of a life time.

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    What to Do When Your Customers Have Been Blacklisted By Google

    August 12, 2015 — by Andreas — 0

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    Being blacklisted by Google is not a rare occurrence – recently, the company blacklisted over 11,000 websites during the outbreak of SoakSoak malware, which attacked WordPress sites using a popular plugin. Whether it’s hack attacks, malware problems, or other security issues, Google is quick to shut down any potential problems with its blacklist.

    This can pose many problems for hosting providers! Customers may not always understand how or why they have been blacklisted by Google, even though it regularly does this to hundreds of sites every day. Your customers may be quick to blame, and that blame could fall on you. It is probably not your fault that the customer’s site has been blacklisted, but your customer will be looking to you for solutions. To provide good service, and be as helpful as possible, you should work to assist your customer in dealing with a Google blacklist problem.

    The best thing you can do is get started rehabilitating the site and getting it removed from the blacklist, as soon as possible. This could take hours, or weeks, depending on how bad the damage is. Google itself will work to remove the site from the blacklist once it meets the right conditions, but that process can take at least 10 hours, ranging up to a whole day. This equals lost revenue for your client, and ill will all around.

    To find out if your customer is actually blacklisted by Google, it is important to do some diagnostics first. You can use Google’s Webmaster Tools to find out if the site is on the list, or take a look at the Abusive Hosts Blocking List which can give some information about why the site may have been blacklisted. MX Toolbox and BlackListAlert.org can give out more information.

    According to Google, once a site has been restored, services like Wget, cURL, or Fetch as Google will work to verify that the site is in good shape.

    There are different ways to approach restoring the site based on this information. One of the quickest way to return things to normal is to restore from a clean back-up. A malware infection needs extra work, but if that isn’t the case for your client, a simple back-up restoration can do the trick. Make sure you offer back-up services as part of your hosting, so you can work to restore a site quickly for whatever reason is necessary.

    There are a few options for back-ups. You can offer your clients a managed services approach, which puts the onus on you to have a plan. As a hosting provider you will offer protection against threats, damage mitigation, and account restoration. You will need to allocate your own resources, from hardware and software to security, to be successful with this approach, and it will come at a cost to your customer as a result. If you are working with large businesses who have room for managed services in their budget, this should not be a problem, as the ability to restore quickly and get off of the blacklist is certainly worth it to a company of this size!

    Self-service back-ups are easier to handle for some customers, whether due to their budget, or their own robust IT skills and resources. You can assist your client with this by providing a cloud-based option so they can still have a back-up, but manage it on their own terms. This is a less expensive solution so it may prove to be quite popular with many clients, who will appreciate the lack of expense, the quick response time, and the level of control.

    You may wish to offer additional support, available at an extra cost to clients who choose a self-serve option. This way, if they get in over their heads or simply need an extra hand, you can provide it without losing your own money and time.

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    What Can You Do About Shellshock?

    August 5, 2015 — by Andreas — 0

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    The Shellshock vulnerability affects Bash across Linux, BSD and Unix variants using the shell program – dedicated server users, shared host users, and VPS users can all be affected by this problem, and need to take different actions to address it. The solution is easiest for dedicated server users, who can simply install the latest patched version of Bash.

    For those with a VPS, the solution is similar. Log in to your virtual private server with SSH and check for the Shellshock vulnerability. You can then install the patched version, bringing your installation up to date with security measures.

    If you rely on a shared server, the solution becomes more complicated. You have to rely on your web host provider to implement proper security measures. Check in with your host through their webpage, social media feeds and other news sites to see if they have published any information about a fix. Don’t be afraid to reach out and directly contact your host for more information – having a secure site is very, very important!

    Your host may have already installed a patch, or could be actively working toward a solution. Rather than worry, simply get more information. A good web host will be happy to solve the problem and let its users know that it has done so, indicating high-quality customer service.

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    Manually Disabling a WordPress Plugin When Dealing With a Malfunction

    July 22, 2015 — by Andreas — 0

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    There are a few reasons you may want to disable a WordPress plugin. Usually, getting this done is as easy as logging into your WordPress dashboard, selecting Plugins, and clicking Deactivate. This, of course, is the way to do things when all aspects of your system are working properly. However, sometimes a malfunctioning plugin may prevent you from disabling an unwanted plugin this way or even logging into the dashboard.

    To deal with this problem you will have to manually disable the problematic plugin. It may sound complicated, but with a bit of work it’s easy to manually disable the plugin and get back to using your WordPress site the way you want, free of any malfunctions.

    There are two ways to do this. First, you can disable the files, or you have the option of disabling the database entries.

    To disable the files, access your filesystem through the control panel’s file manager, FTP, or direct shell access with SSH. Navigate to /wp-content/plugins, then find the directory or folder of the plugin you wish to delete. Rename it to something different.

    Once you’ve done this you should be able to log in to WordPress.

    If you want to disable the database entry, access the databse through the command line via SSH, or through an interface like phpMyAdmin.

    Find the database table labeled wp_options, then the row labeled active_plugins.You will see the data as a string like a:1:{i:0;s:19:”badplugin/badplugin.php”;}. Change the a:1 to a:0, thus deactivating the plugin, then save your changes.

    Whatever method you choose, once the plugin is disabled you can log in, and try to fix it, or delete it and find a new one!

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    Are You Leaving Your Website Open to Intrusion?

    July 15, 2015 — by Andreas — 0

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    Websites are a popular target for wrongdoing, because there are so many different ways people with bad intentions can break in. You may think that you have done all you can to optimize your site for high security, but in thinking about all of the details, many website owners often forget the basic solutions to security problems. Instead of being forced to react to threats, you should focus on proactively setting up your site to toss out any problems and troublesome people before they can take hold of your data.

    There are plenty of steps you can take to promote security for your website, but there are also a few ways that you can leave your site wide open for intrusion. Before you worry about the complexities of security management for your website, ensure that you have blocked the easy ways in.

    Make sure all of your web applications are patched. Most use server-side scripting which makes it easy for people to exploit vulnerabilities and holes. Update your web apps regularly!

    If you collect user data, SSL encryption is vital for security. Encrypt the information on disk as well, if you can, for the utmost in security measures for your users.

    Keep an eye on permissions – too permissive and people can jump in when you don’t want them to. Not permissive enough, and things won’t work. Strike a balance with a focus on safety and security, so your apps will work but are not needlessly permissive. If an app is requesting too much permission it is likely not a good choice and you should search for an app with similar functionality that does not require you to give up so much of your security.

    You should also pay attention to password strength, a common web security issue. Don’t choose passwords that are easy to guess – use a variety of passwords that use numbers, letters, and other symbols for maximum security.

    By implementing these simple procedures, you will be ensuring the safety and security of your website, including data and user information. It’s easy to get started dealing with patching your site against intrusions, so don’t delay this important work!

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