Many people often wonder what the difference is between secure website hosting and regular website hosting. Simply put, secure website hosting will afford you the ability to sleep at night, without the worry of whether or not your website or valuable information will become compromised.
Even more alarming, most webmasters are often clueless when their websites are hacked. Over 90% of webmasters surveyed did not notice any strange activity when their website was compromised, despite the fact that their sites were being abused to send spam, host phishing pages, or distribute malware, according to the report Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective.
Perhaps more surprising, nearly two-thirds of the webmasters surveyed did not know how the compromise had happened.
The Threat of Hackers
The portrayal of hackers in the media has ranged from the high-tech super-spy to the lonely anti-social teen who is simply looking for entertainment. The reality, however, is that hackers are a very diverse bunch, a group simultaneously blamed with causing billions of dollars in damages. In 2011 alone, hackers were responsible for cyberattacks against the Justice Department, the FBI, Universal Music Group, The Recording Association of America, Motion Picture Association of America, Visa, PayPal, and MasterCard just to name a few.
The Internet abounds with hackers, known as crackers or “black hats,” who work to exploit computer systems. They are the ones you’ve seen on the news being hauled away for cybercrimes. Some of them do it for fun and curiosity, while others are looking for personal gain.
Adrian Lamo is a good example of a black hat hacker.
Lamo’s claim to fame is his break-ins at major organizations like The New York Times and Microsoft. Lamo’s intrusions consisted mainly of penetration testing, in which he found flaws in security and exploited them. His hits include Yahoo!, Bank of America, Citigroup and Cingular. When he broke into The New York Times’ intranet, things got serious. He added himself to a list of experts and viewed personal information on contributors, including Social Security numbers. Lamo also hacked into The Times’ LexisNexis account to research high-profile subject matter.
Hackers that use their skills for good are classified as “white hat.” These white hats often work as certified “Ethical Hackers,” hired by companies to test the integrity of their systems. Others operate without company permission by bending but not breaking laws and in the process have created some really cool stuff. Stephen “the Woz” Wozniak, one of the co-founders of Apple, is a well-known example of a white hat hacker. Woz got his start in hacking making blue boxes, devices that bypass telephone-switching mechanisms to make free long-distance calls.
However, no matter the nature of their intent, there is never any reason for a hacker to have access to your system nor the information stored on your servers to risk compromise.
Mediaura Secure Hosting
Security has always been a prime focus for our company. Our clients have long been aware of the lengths Mediaura goes to as a company to protect and secure their information and website systems. We have been vocal advocates regarding a focus on secure web hosting and the need for extra protective measures, long before this current uprising of cyberattacks and malware began to take place.
Although we formerly only offered our Fort-Knox-level of secure hosting to existing clients, after numerous requests and inquiries from the outside public, we have decided to begin offering secure hosting to outside companies and organizations as well. Therefore companies who either need extra-security around their information or for companies that would just like the peace-of-mind, Mediaura secure web hosting is now available to you.
The Mediaura Difference
While we can’t go into all of the details and measures we’ve taken to ensure that our systems are impenetrable (and there are many), we can share with you some key factors of our secure web hosting:
– HIPPA compliant
– PCI compliant
– Military clientele
– SSL certificates and secure business transactions
We take our virtual security just as seriously as our physical security. Our entire network operates behind redundant high-throughput transparent stand-alone firewalls powered by pfSense. We also maintain a series of VLAN configurations on our private networks in order to further increase security and efficiency between the various segments of our network. As a rule of thumb, every single point of failure maintains at least one identical backup. This is true for our servers’ power supplies and NIC’s as well as our managed switches and firewalls
Mediaura has expanded our cloud by embracing a new and larger rollout of Vmware Vsphere 5 running on multiple Dell Enterprise servers and a fancy new SAN for the ultimate in data redundancy and efficiency. Having expensive equipment and software for the ultimate in redundancy would be a moot point without a highly secure, redundant and reliable data center. That’s why Mediaura chose Peak 10.
Peak 10 Facility Overview
General Facility Features
- 11,500 Square Feet Raised Floor
- Subfloor Cable Management and Power Distribution
- 18″ Raised Floor
- Conditioned AC power
- Customized Cage, Private Suite, and Cabinet Space Available
- 24/7/365 Customer Access
- 24/7/365 Network Operations Center
- Built above 100 year flood plain
Security Features
- Biometric Fingerprint Readers
- Card/PIN access
- 24/7/365 Monitored Video Surveillance
Environmental Controls/Redundancy
- Internally Redundant and Double End Fed Power Grid
- 2.4 MW Generating Capacity
- Redundant Backup Power via Multiple UPSs and a Generator
- Redundant Network Infrastructure
- Controlled Temperature and Humidity via Redundant HVAC Units
- VESDA/FE-25 Gas Fire Suppression System
- Geographic Diversity/Redundancy via Other Peak 10 Data Centers
Internet/Access Options
- Diverse Fiber Entry Points: OC-12 up to OC-192
- Internet/Network Access Options: DS-1, DS-3 or OC-X Connectivity
- Network BGP Connected to Multiple Carrier Networks
- Internet Access through KDL and TelCove/Level 3
- Tier 1 Gateways through Qwest, AT&T and TelCove/Level 3
- Metro Ethernet at 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, and 1 Gbps Connectivity
Disaster Recovery
- Multiple Equipment Procurement Options
- Hot/Warm/Cold Site Recovery Solutions
- Dedicated Work Area Recovery for Customers
- Direct Connections to Customer Networks
- Mobile Recovery Solutions
VMWare Overview
The VMware approach to cloud computing starts with the best virtualization platform, vSphere 5, and adds a suite of intelligent cloud infrastructure products – VMware vCloud Director, vCenter Site Recovery Manager and VMware vShield. Together, this VMware platform provides customers with an evolutionary transition to the cloud that transforms existing datacenters into secure private clouds, adding seamless extensions to compatible public clouds, and combines the best aspects of each into federated hybrid clouds.
Run business-critical applications with confidence and respond faster to your business needs with VMware vSphere, the industry-leading virtualization platform for building cloud infrastructures. vSphere accelerates the shift to cloud computing for existing datacenters, while also underpinning compatible public cloud offerings, paving the way for the only hybrid cloud model.
Host With Mediaura Today
Contact Mediaura today (502-554-9649) or email us info@mediaura.com to learn more about the exciting new secure Web Hosting services and plans that we offer. With the ability to customize packages to meet the needs of your business, we will work together with you in order to develop the most stringent level of security possible.
