Security Tips
It's important to keep your site's software up-to-date with the latest security patches. You may think you have nothing worth securing on your site. But if someone gains access to your site, they can send out spam, which could ruin your email reputation. Or, deface your site, or install phishing websites that impersonate a bank or other illegal activity. And, because you are on a shared server, your web site account could be suspended if it is affecting other customers or the internet negatively.
Even if your site is just HTML, you should follow the advice below for Backups and Passwords
Backups
Make sure to always have a "known good" backup of your site. You can use the backup icon in your control panel ( http://example.org/cpanel - replace example.org with your own domain name). Keep a copy on the server and also on your local machine.
Passwords
Choose a cpanel password that is at least 10 characters long, uses uppercase and lowercase, a number, and a symbol. Shorter, less complex passwords are easy for hackers to guess. Click on the change password icon in your control panel to change your password. Make sure to change your password often.
Web Site Software Code
If you have one of the common PHP programs below, make sure to subscribe to their email lists to be advised of security issues. See the links below.
Drupal
http://drupal.org/security
Joomla
http://developer.joomla.org/security.html
WordPress
WordPress Security Tips
http://codex.wordpress.org/Hardening_WordPress
PHPBB
http://www.phpbb.com/blog/tag/security
ZenCart
http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/Important_Site_Security_Recommendations
Ruby on Rails
http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-security
If you have programmed your own PHP code, check out the PHP security guide, and make sure your code follows best practices.
http://phpsec.org/projects/guide/
Category: Knowledgebase
Created on: June 4th, 2009
Ivan Storck
over 2 years ago
Another tip: don't use the same password for your cpanel and database user. Frequently, the database user password has to be written in a config file. You don't ever want your cpanel password stored in a publicly accessible file on your web server.