What to Look for in a Web Hosting Service
Network Monitoring
When choosing a web hosting service, always check to see whether they provide constant network monitoring across their servers. It is the web hosting company's responsibility to monitor the network and be able to flag up any surprises, intrusions, or instances of unauthorized access. This helps to keep all users safe.
Strong Technical Support
Any truly secure web hosting service should offer comprehensive, around-the-clock technical support for all customers. If your site is compromised by cybercriminals, a quick response is vital. Ensure that your web hosting team can respond to all issues instantly and effectively.
Comprehensive Data Backup
In the event of a catastrophic breach, all of your valuable data and content could be lost. However, if your web hosting service offers comprehensive and regular backup services, then your data will be kept safe, should the worst occur.
DDoS Prevention
This one is absolutely critical. A Distributed Denial of Service attack occurs when a hacker floods a website's server with requests in over to overload it and render the website non-functional. If your web host can offer DDoS protection capabilities, this threat is reduced.
SSL
Secure Sockets Layer encryption protects the link between a website, the user, and the server. This encryption is widely-used and highly effective and should be considered a basic prerequisite for any decent web hosting service provider.
Malware Detection & Removal
Malware is a threat to web servers just as it is to personal devices. When attempting to choose a web hosting service, make sure to ask what safeguards they have in place to detect malware and eliminate it when necessary. Without malware detection and removal capabilities, your website is at risk.
Secure Email Hosting
If you are using a dedicated web hosting service for your email hosting, then this opens up an additional set of considerations. Email servers are also valuable and vulnerable targets for hackers, especially given the high-quality, valuable information that can be accessed from intercepted emails. Any email hosting service should perform comprehensive scanning of all ingoing and outgoing emails as a basic prerequisite. They should also use the latest versions of webmail clients and have up-to-date antivirus software in place.
Up-to-Date Operating Systems
When you launch a website, you will need to decide which operating system you are going to host your website on. You can choose windows web hosting, Linux web hosting, and more. It is important that a web hosting service automatically installs updates and patches, as these are the first line of defense when it comes to cybersecurity.
Strong Physical Security
Even cloud servers are connected to physical infrastructure. The data center where a server is housed can be a tempting and potentially lucrative target for all manner of cybercriminals. A break-in or arson attack at a data center could be devastating for you, your business, and your customers. Besides, natural events such as floods, hurricanes, and forest fires can also pose a threat to an insecure data center. Do not shy away from asking a web hosting provider what physical security measures they have in place.






