The Switch to FireHost for Secure Hosting

Unfortunately, it seems like there are more and more attacks on websites these days. It doesn’t matter who you are or how popular your website is. If you have a website, your files are at risk of being attacked.

Over the years, The Best Designs has been hosted at a few different hosting companies, but always on a shared server because they are much more affordable than the more secure servers. (Yes – I’ve been cheap.) This was fine for a while, but as traffic started to increase, so did the eyes of those watching from the dark corners of the Internet – just waiting for the right moment to inject their lovely pharmaceutical links into the footer of the site. I’m not sure that it’s a solid marketing idea by those involved in the planning stages. The last time I checked, visitors of design websites do not seem to show a keen interest in suspicious footer links to medications claiming to help them enhance certain parts of their anatomy. (Although I could be wrong. What do I know?)

Whatever the case, they were able to get their undesirable links on my site a few times, and it ruined a couple of hours of my life while I had to fish for the files they altered and consult with my security experts.

It’s always a mess when your files are tampered with. There’s no easy way around it.

I’m sure you know the feeling. After about the third time this happens, your feathers begin to get a little ruffled, and you start to ask why you even put up with it. It doesn’t matter how secure you think you are on that shared server. You can have an SFTP password that takes two full minutes to type because it’s so long. You can have armed guards standing around your shared server 24/7. You can make sure to have the latest WordPress updates installed the second they are released – even if it means jumping out of a deep sleep just to perform the update. But if there is just one website on your shared server that is not secure, that’s all it takes to allow someone with a ‘pharmaceutical links’ agenda (or worse) to get into your website from the server.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

After the last attack on the shared server I was on, I decided that I’d had enough. I had taken every secure measure that I could, but I could not control my neighbors on the server. A cheaper, shared server just wasn’t an option anymore.

When I started my search for a super-secure web host, I kept coming across a web hosting company called FireHost, but when I saw that it would cost quite a bit more than I was already paying, I thought it might be a good idea to keep looking for something a little more in my price range. After several hours of secure hosting research, I was unable to find alternatives that claimed to offer the same level of security and support, so I decided that it was my only option for a more secure hosting environment. After the trials I had been through on a shared server, it was well worth the cost – not only for my sanity, but also for you. The last attack on this website was the worst of the few I have had over the years, and although the files were cleaned within an hour of the attack, I did not like the feeling that my desire to save money interfered with the overall experience for my visitors.

The Benefits of Secure Hosting

It is not possible to guarantee that a website’s security will never be compromised, even if you are on the most secure server that exists. I am aware that even though the site is on a much more secure web host, that chance of an attack is still there – although greatly minimized. And in the event that it does happen again, I will get 100% support from FireHost, and it will be resolved as quickly as possible, as promised by their incredible support team.

I have prepared a list of what I have found to be the most valuable benefits of hosting with a secure web host like FireHost. I hope you will find it helpful:

• Solid Security Measures – Their main goal is to make sure your website is secure. The measures they take to ensure this are incredible. They even have a graph in their customer portal that lets you see the attempted attacks that have been made on your website during a certain time frame. (Notice that they are just attempts that cannot get through because of their security measures.)
• Amazing Support – Their support team is awesome. They are fast to respond, and very detailed and professional in their responses. They don’t make you feel like you are burdening them. They go above and beyond to help you with whatever you need assistance with regarding your website.
• They Won’t Turn Their Backs on You – In the rare event that something does happen to your website, they will do whatever they can to resolve the issue and to get your website back in working order. They won’t respond to you and tell you to fix it on your own like some web hosts do. Your problem is their problem, and they will help to fix it.
• Anxiety Level Reduction – For those of you whose websites have been attacked, you know that feeling of anxiety that comes along just after you’ve been attacked. You think it’s going to happen again. You’re so paranoid that you devise an intricate system for your weekly changing passwords that only a rocket scientist would be able to decode. With FireHost, you can put all of that behind you and know that someone is watching over your precious website. Take a deep breath. Have a glass of wine. Relax.

Wrapped in a Warm, Cozy Blanket

I feel much better now that this website is in a safer environment. And even if the worst ever does happen, my stress level will be greatly minimized as the FireHost team fixes the issue and restores my website to the way it was before. In my opinion, it is definitely worth the increased price for that peace of mind.