Archive for the ‘Security’ Category

FireHost Security Alert for WordPress Users

by FireHost Evangelist on June 22nd, 2011

Action Required: WordPress.org Repository Plug In Hack

On June 22nd,  the WordPress team reported suspicious commits to several of their popular plugins (AddThis, WPtouch, and W3 Total Cache) which contained cleverly disguised PHP backdoors. A PHP backdoor could allow someone to gain unauthorized access to your website through maliciously-crafted PHP code.

As a precautionary security measure, WordPress has decided to force-reset all passwords on WordPress.org while they investigate the root cause. See http://www.WordPress.org for more information.

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Take Your Speeds To The Next Level With FireHost SSD Storage & Load Balancers

by FireHost Evangelist on June 7th, 2011

A little over a month ago, we announced the industry’s first PCI 2.0 compliant public Cloud Servers. Since then, we’ve focused whole-heartedly on ways to increase their performance.

Today, we happily announce SSD Storage & Zeus Powered Virtual Load Balancer add on features to you.

SSDFireHost SSD Storage

Solid state drives (SSD) offer preferable I/O (input/output) rates and access times that you just can’t achieve with a traditional, disk based storage system. Database and web application response times can increase by up to 60%, improving your users’ experience. A new concept in cloud hosting, early adopters of SSD storage enjoy the following benefits:

  • Enterprise-grade Dell EqualLogic SAN
  • Higher IOPS with 1/4th the latency of a SAS solution
  • Configured with RAID 50 Redundancy
  • Daily Snapshots
  • 30-Day Backup Retention
  • Configure a secure cloud server

FireHost Load Balancers

New Load Balancers powered by Zeus Technologies replace traditional hardware versions, to provide high-availability with more flexibility. Equipped with 1GB RAM, 1 processor, and 10GB hard drive (standard), virtual load balancers allow businesses to more effectively predict future capacity by analyzing the comprehensive historical data and usage trends through a convenient web-based interface. Other great load balancer features include:

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Introducing Secure Cloud Servers: A Cloud Environment Like No Other

by FireHost Evangelist on April 26th, 2011

PCI 2.0 Compliant CloudSecurity has arrived in the public cloud. With our latest service release announced today, Secure, Public Cloud Servers have now achieved PCI 2.0 Compliance.

The Origin
The latest PCI Data Security Standard announced in Q4 2010 addresses security and virtualization and all the controversy surrounding these two topics. As a participating member of the PCISSC, we decided to take the Council’s challenge head on by achieving PCI 2.0 compliance for ourselves and creating a secure, public cloud offering unlike anything else in the industry.

The Outcome
Secure Cloud Servers take the scalability and autonomy that makes public clouds so great a step further by providing:

  • High availability for every customer
  • Up to 8 processors
  • Up to 84 GB RAM
  • Unlimited storage available
  • Managed backup snapshots with 14 day retention
  • And more (of course)

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SSL Your Way to a Safer, More Successful Cart

by FireHost Evangelist on April 13th, 2011

SSL (secure socket layer) Technology is the web standard for securing and encrypting confidential PII (personally identifiable information) on eCommerce websites. Every piece of information transmitted on a https:// page is encrypted by an advanced cipher (often 128-bits or more) to help prevent unwanted parties from obtaining credit card numbers, home or work addresses, passwords, social security numbers, and even just your first and last name in raw format.

Consumers may not know the term SSL certificate, but they do increasingly recognize “secured by”, “protected by” and “verified by” badges on the eCommerce websites they visit.

Unfortunately, each web browser has the ability to determine where and how SSL certificates display, and some of the most popular web browsers suppress SSL badge visibility by decreasing the opacity or moving them to an inconspicuous location on the web page.

Extended Validation (EV) certificates (aka “The Green Bar” to consumers) combat browser suppression because they’re displayed front and center on every page where the SSL certificate has been installed correctly.

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Introducing Security View: Real-Time Reporting for Blocked Web Application Attacks

by FireHost Evangelist on February 1st, 2011

FireHost Security View

At FireHost we are continually striving to make the secure hosting services that we provide to our customers even better, so that they can have the luxury of running securely and worry-free around the clock.

We are happy to announce our latest addition to the MyFireHost customer portal – Security View. Today is just the beginning of an impressive line up new features and enhancements that we’ll be integrating into our service in 2011.

Through Security View, you will have a front row seat to monitor your blocked attacks, in real-time with charts and graphs that help you visualize how frequently hackers attempt to breach your secure servers, websites and web-based applications.

Founder and CEO of FireHost, Chris Drake voices his concern for web security and the fundamental need for the new enhancements, “Most companies don’t realize how many attackers attempt to breach their websites and applications on a daily basis. We are so confident in our ability to block cybercrime that we’re opening the curtain and inviting our customers to see how well we protect their websites. Security View exposes the reality of cybercrime and lets our customers know we’re really looking out for them.

Here a few of the key features Security View provides:

  • View blocked application layer attacks (SQL Injections, XSS Attacks, Email Hoarding Events, Directory Traversals, and more)
  • Sort and filter malicious activity by hour, day, week, month, or year
  • View attack origins by region in real time, for each of your IPs
  • Customize views to see attacks on your entire network, all the way down to an individual IP

Security View is a standard feature available to all customers with Secure Servers virtualized with VMWare. The next time you login to MyFireHost, simply navigate the tab labeled “Security” and check it out.