Site protection

[rozerssss]

Ok, i've nearly created my first site, how would i go about protecting this site. Are there any measures which everyone should take, adding any certain code etc.?
Or should it be safe how it is and do you use any particular measures to protect your website from hackers etc.?
Any suggestions, not just from hackers any general measures things to do etc.

[Guilty]

server security depends very much also on the software / scripts / forum etc you are using
here you jsut ahve to study, search for security alerts related to any software you run online,
as said by cellularnews
update all software regularly
always know what you do - learn your trade from scratch and know what you and why you do what you do
much of the server security control might be done by your host - depending on who your host is
but finally it all is your responsibility to stay well informed about all safe procedures - there is plenty of literature online for all kinds of software installations, etc that might be used on web sites

[solaris]

You don't have to worry about anything for now. If you're server has a DDOS protection , firewall and virus protection, i'm sure you'll be okay. But don't take it lightly. Just backup your important files as time goes on or on a daily basis. I hope this information help you.

[noas]

re all files backed up
while some hosts may promise to make daily back ups
my host sometimes too
when such as b ackup is needed to restore data - you find out that the most current version is several weeks old ...
hapened so to me just a few weeks back.
hence make sure YOU make the backups that are important to you
there are thousands of ways to crack a site's security and hack around on your site - hence the many phishing site's mail each day in the mailbox - all sent from presumably "secure" sites. finally it always is your legal responsibility to keep all your scripts clean and secured.

[rozerssss]

Thanks very much for the information. it's greatly appreciated. I shall contact my host and ask what measures they are taking. All files are backed up aswell.

[Watdaflip]

If your website is hosted on linux make you have have all your folders set to a secure chmod. Make sure that (unless its needed to upload a file) all your files have write protections, you dont want to allow people to upload any file to that folder. If you do have a folder where people can upload, be very careful..

I have my website setup where all files that are uploaded are kept in a folder that is chmod'd to 744. To access the files I have a php header script setup to allow downloading from it, If people try to access it directly it will give then a 404 error, they dont get access.

It is impossible to have a website that is 100% hack proof, but you can take steps to get close. The less features you have the less likly it back be hacked, but dont rely on that.