Cross Site Contamination: A Serious Issue

Have you got multiple sites installed on a single hosting plan and only 3 of those sites have a Firewall? You are then making a big mistake. You may become a victim of cross site contamination very soon. Even one outdated website can make all your other websites vulnerable.

“In a recent survey it was reported that 80 percent of all businesses suffered some sort of computer hack over the past 12 months.” With increase in hacking numbers and cyber crime, cyber security has become a growing concern for businesses. Hence, agencies & larger companies who have 20, 50, 100 websites sitting on 1, 3, or 5 servers or dozens of hosting accounts have become largely concerned about website cross contamination and have started working wisely.

What Exactly is Cross Site Contamination?

Cross site contamination is a very serious issue. If you have multiple sites installed on a single hosting plan, only one outdated website can make all your other websites vulnerable. Hackers can do lot of damage if he gains access to even one of your websites that sit in your shared hosting account.

All of us know how viruses exactly work. They simply spread. Same applies to website malware. Malware duplicates itself. It injects itself in little dark directories that you never care to check.

So What Can We Do to Prevent Cross Site Contamination?

• If you have 5 sites on a server, you need to make sure that you have a Firewall for each of them. Also, you need to monitor each of them.
• Delete old domains running on the same server that you no longer care about.
• You can use Sucuri’s free scanner in order to check if all your websites are up to date.
• Gain a better understanding of end-user security.

In a Nutshell

Protect Your Websites, Protect Your Visitors & Protect Yourself….

Remember, just protecting 1 site will not work if you have multiple sites on the same account. Hackers need just 1 access point. If they gain access to even one of your websites that sit in your shared hosting account, they may easily attack your other websites. Hence if you have 5 websites on a single server, you should make sure you have a Firewall for each of them. It is also important to scan the server for software versions as well as known vulnerabilities.

Also, remember that more websites you have sitting on your server, the more susceptible you will be to malicious activity. Hence clean your garage to stay away from malicious activities.