New Member Introductions

**Neophyte** · 12-20-2007, 09:14 PM

I just signed up with a web host a couple weeks ago and realized that I am somewhat lost with all the nuances associated with cPanel, so when I found this forum, joining seemed like a logical step to getting some advice from veterans. At this point I'm mainly concerned with securing and locking things down to prevent any unauthorized access. If anyone can point me to a thread that addresses these issues, it would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

**davet** · 10:54 PM

Did you activate a shared hosting account, a VPS or a dedicated server? Which hosting provider did you activate the account with?

There's really not much 'securing' and 'locking down' you can do on a shared hosting account since this is primarily done at the server level.

One thing you can do is if you are uploading any script to your website make sure they're not vulnerable to exploits. For example, a lot of old guestbook scripts are exploitable. Just be careful what you upload to your account when it comes to third party software and scripts.

Also make sure you are using a secure password for your hosting account.

A password such as 'dave3' isn't secure but a password of 'DaVe23!' is secure

**joder** · 12-20-2007, 11:04 PM

Welcome to WT Dave.

davet is giving you good advice but in the future you will want to post a question in the appropriate forum.

**Neophyte** · 12-21-2007, 06:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davet

Did you activate a shared hosting account, a VPS or a dedicated server? Which hosting provider did you activate the account with?

Shared hosting with elitehost.net. I think they're a startup company as I couldn't find much info good or bad when I googled them prior to signing, but they were offering unlimited/unlimited for 19.95USD for 5 yrs. Probably overselling, but for that price, I figured what the hey - for that price, if I find they suck in a year or two, I can pick up my marbles and move on and I haven't lost that much. In the meantime, it's a playground for me while I learn web design. I'm planning to open a vBulletin forum relating to my profession and perhaps one or two other sites, but nothing ecommerce-related. Thanks for replying to a newb.

**London** · 12-21-2007, 08:22 AM

Welcome on board, Neophyte

**Gx3 Grafix** · 12-21-2007, 10:46 AM

Welcome to WT. Hope you enjoy your stay!

**Tone** · 12-21-2007, 07:30 PM

Hey Neophyte,

Welcome to the webmaster talk forum hope you find it useful around here.

**Neophyte** · 09:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joder

Welcome to WT Dave.

davet is giving you good advice but in the future you will want to post a question in the appropriate forum.

Thanks for the welcome, joder. I would have posted the question in the appropriate forum, but as a new member, I have not yet fulfilled my prerequisite 5 posts necessary for starting a new thread. Besides that, I presupposed that the subject of security is one that may already have been hashed and rehashed to death and already have an existing thread. Not a problem, though, as I find i have always learned more from listening than talking.

**serandfae** · 12-23-2007, 10:52 PM

Welcome to WT, Dave!