Security articles

Security 528 What is an SSL certificate and why does it matter? An SSL certificate encrypts the connection between a visitor's browser and your site, so passwords, card numbers and...
Security 424 Why does my SSL certificate show fewer than 365 days? If you're on the free SSL every account gets by default, this doesn't apply to you - skip to the note below. This is...
Security 959 How to redirect HTTP to HTTPS with .htaccess This forces every visitor to the encrypted version of your site, even if they type or link to the plain http://...
Security 836 How to tell if your site has been compromised Most infections don't announce themselves - they show up as small, odd symptoms before anything looks obviously...
Security 380 How to clean up a compromised site Cleaning up is only half the job - if the door that let the infection in stays open, it comes back. Work through...
Security 587 How to activate and install a paid SSL certificate Every domain here already gets a free certificate automatically - see what an SSL certificate is. This page is only...
Security 594 Why your IP gets blocked by the firewall (and how to avoid it) The server firewall counts failed attempts and, after a few, cuts off that address. It is not punishment or...
Security 500 How to find your public IP address (and why we ask for it) When support asks for "your IP", we mean the address your connection presents to the internet. That is what the...
Security 249 Your server IP on a blocklist: how to tell and how to get off A blocklist - the older name is blacklist - is a public register of IP addresses caught sending spam. Mail servers...
Security 266 Personal data protection: what applies to your website If your site has a contact form, a newsletter, a client area or a shop, you are processing personal data. This...
Security 214 I bought an SSL certificate and it has not activated: domain validation You bought an SSL certificate, you paid, and the padlock still has not appeared. It is the most frequent question we...
Security 249 How to tell whether an e-mail really came from us A fake message pretending to be your hosting provider is the most common attack against accounts like yours - and...
Security 213 Selling online: PCI, card data and what shared hosting is not Anyone setting up a shop eventually arrives at this question, often because a bank or a corporate customer asked it...
Security 229 What we do about security, DDoS included, and what stays yours This question deserves names and specifics, not marketing. Below is what runs on our servers, what it actually...
Security 226 The cookie notice and consent: what your site collects without you knowing That bar appearing on nearly every site asking you to accept cookies is neither decoration nor a European fashion....
Security 192 Reporting abuse: how to do it and what happens next If you have found something illegal or abusive on a site, an e-mail or a file that we host, there is a form built...
Security 152 No padlock on your site: the causes, in order The browser shows a warning, or the padlock is simply not there. There are five causes, and they are worth checking...
Security 198 Locked out: password, two-step authentication and the recovery e-mail «I lost my password» is really three different questions, and the first thing to do is work out which one is yours....
Security 231 Moving your site to https with Really Simple SSL Read this before installing anything: the certificate is already ours and already there. Domains hosted with us get...
Security 193 Removing the red Google warning from your site It is the red screen covering the whole site, with a line like «the site ahead contains malware» or «deceptive site...
Security 199 Blocking an IP address from visiting your site First, make sure this is the right article. This one is about you barring a visitor from your site. If your problem...
Security 230 CAA records: who may issue certificates for your domain By default, any certificate authority in the world may issue a certificate for your domain, as long as it can prove...
Security 102 Authenticator app, SMS or security key: which two-step verification to use The short answer: make an authenticator app on your phone your default. It is far safer than SMS, does not depend on...
Security 103 A strong password and a password manager: how to stop reusing the same one The short answer: a strong password is long, unique and has nothing to do with you. Nobody memorises dozens of them,...
Security 86 How to recognise a phishing e-mail or message, and what to do if you clicked The short answer: phishing is a message pretending to come from someone you trust (Interweb, your bank, a supplier,...
Security 93 Ransomware explained: how it reaches a website or a computer and how to be ready The short answer: ransomware is malicious software that encrypts your files and demands a ransom to give them back....
Security 83 After a hack, which backup do you restore? Choosing a clean copy The short answer: restore the last copy from before the infection, not the most recent one. If you restore...
Security 102 An abandoned plugin or an old PHP version: how to spot the risks on your site The short answer: most hacked sites were not caught by a clever attack, but by an old part with a known flaw: a...
Security 82 File permissions explained: what 755, 644 and 777 mean The short answer: on an ordinary hosting account, folders should be 755 and files 644. Files holding secrets, such...
Security 94 ModSecurity and web application firewalls: what they do, and what to do when one blocks you The short answer: a web application firewall (WAF) reads every request reaching your site and refuses the ones...
Security 84 DDoS attack or just a traffic spike: how to tell, and what to do The short answer: a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack is a flood of fake requests, from many addresses at...
Security 93 HSTS explained: forcing https for good, and the trap of switching it on too early The short answer: HSTS is an instruction your site gives the browser: “from now on, talk to me only over https, for...
Security 103 Security headers explained: what they do and how to add them in .htaccess The short answer: security headers are small instructions your site sends the browser with every page (“do not let...
Security 113 The scan says clean but the site still redirects: where an infection hides The short answer: a scan only sees what it knows how to recognise. A modern infection hides outside the files you...
Security 78 SSH on your hosting account: keys instead of passwords, and staying safe The short answer: SSH gives you a command line on your account, and it is as powerful as it is dangerous if the...
Security 83 DV, OV and EV certificates: which kind of SSL certificate you really need The short answer: for almost every site, a DV (domain validation) certificate is enough, and it is the free one that...
Security 90 The free SSL certificate did not renew: why AutoSSL fails and what to check The short answer: the free certificate that comes with the account (AutoSSL, from Let’s Encrypt) is issued and...
Security 78 Someone is sending e-mail in the name of your domain: what SPF, DKIM and DMARC do about it The short answer: sending an e-mail that looks as if it comes from someone@asuaempresa.ao is trivial: the sender...
Security 88 A website form that is safe and spam-free: honeypot, captcha and validation The short answer: a form is a door that anyone, and any robot, can try. To keep it spam-free, add a trap field (a...
Security 79 Your e-mail account has been hacked: what to do in the first hour The short answer: change the password from a clean device, end the open sessions, look for and delete the forwards...
Security 42 Wildcard SSL: one certificate for every subdomain, and when you do not need it The short answer: a wildcard certificate (with an asterisk) covers every subdomain one level down, such as...
Security 66 Scanning your site for malware in cPanel: what Imunify finds and what to do with the result The short answer: cPanel has a tool called Imunify360, in the Security group, that scans your account’s files for...
Security 60 SQL injection and XSS in plain words: what to ask your developer The short answer: SQL injection and XSS are two of the oldest attacks on websites, and they still work because they...
Security 72 A security.txt file: telling researchers how to report a problem The short answer: security.txt is a small text file, in an agreed place on your site, that tells whoever discovers a...
Security 52 Checking your site’s HTTPS setup: certificate, chain, expiry and protocols The short answer: the browser’s padlock does not tell the whole story. A site can show the padlock on your computer...
Security 77 Files that must never be public: .git folders, .env, backups and database dumps The short answer: everything in the site folder can be requested by anyone who guesses the file name. Git folders,...
Security 56 Content Security Policy: a first policy, tried out in report-only mode The short answer: Content Security Policy (CSP) is a header that tells the browser where the site may load scripts,...
Security 53 Forgotten subdomains and DNS records that point nowhere: how they get hijacked The short answer: when you stop using a service but forget the DNS record that pointed to it (a CNAME to a shop, a...
Security 50 Your connection is not private: the browser certificate warnings, one by one The short answer: the browser shows a warning page (“Your connection is not private”) when it cannot trust the...
Security 44 A red warning from Google (Deceptive site ahead): what it means and how to ask for a review The short answer: if someone opening your site sees a red browser page saying “Deceptive site ahead” or “The site...