Secure Australian Website Hosting
We take security extremely seriously. In the interests of security, we don't discuss our methods here, however they are exceptional, and tried and tested. The trade-off between security and convenience is sometimes negotiated, which leads to small compromises. It's our serious stance on server security that means we may inconvenience you (just a little) for the sake of security. Here are two examples:
1. Minimum Password Strength
All system passwords on our servers (including email account passwords) need to be of an extra high minimum strength. So your favorite password might not be acceptable - but that's a good thing, because you'll be required to use a new, stronger password, and you won't become a spam slave to hackers who would otherwise use your email account to send spam all over the world.
2. No FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
The standard method of uploading files to your hosting server is via FTP using an FTP client like FileZilla or SmartFTP or CyberDuck. The problem with FTP is that your hosting password is sent in plain text (unencrypted) over the internet and can be intercepted at various points. Our solution is to only allow SFTP - Secure File Transfer Protocol, which uses the same sort of encryption your bank uses. Why doesn't every web host do this? A small inconvenience - but a great security enhancement.
Case study: Email aggregator (Yahoo!)
One of our clients gave their email password to Yahoo! - you know, the multi-billion dollar global internet corporation that's been there since the founding of it. They thought it would be a natty idea to get Yahoo! to collate all their email accounts.
Well since Yahoo! favours convenience over security, our clients Yahoo! account was hacked open and from there the spammers began using our server to send out their spam.
Of course, we caught them and shut it down - but you see the benefit of our level of security. We will even SMS your passwords rather than send them to an insecure email account. (And if you do want to aggregate your email accounts, we'll show you a secure way!)
Your security is our security. You're our tenant, but we live in the same building!
"Why doesn't every web host do this?" A small inconvenience - but a great security enhancement.