One ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure! – Ben Franklin
ARTICLE SUMMARY
We’ve seen countless cases where marketing agencies thought they had the skills in-house to manage their server and website security, but in fact were dismally unprepared. Setting up secure firewalls, configuring and hardening Apache/PHP, locking down WordPress, and even “basic” security measures are missed when left to programmers instead of seasoned web server and security administrators. All it takes is one bad hack to bring down ALL of your hosted sites if they’re not secured properly! We can help. We offer a free audit and can point out areas where you may have blindspots.
AUDIENCE
Web/Marketing Agencies. The audience of this article is for Managers/Owners of small to mid-sized Web/Marketing Agencies. This article assumes you currently host and support websites on one or more dedicated Linux server(s). We’re offering a FREE audit of your environment and welcome a discussion of your needs!
WEBSITE SECURITY – DO YOU HAVE THE SUPPORT YOU NEED?
I bet your firm loves and EXCELS at the design and development process of creating a new website, but you may realize there are gaps in the technical/infrastructure side of the house. When you hear phrases like “Routine Security Patches,” “Jailed SSH Access,” “Security Audits,” “CSF IP blocking,” or “PHP security configuration” (just to name a few) your eyes glaze over. However, if you don’t know how to secure your server and websites properly, you may pay a HUGE price.
If you’re a big enough agency you can afford a full-time resource (or even a team!) of proficient technical junkies and Server Administrators. But for 90% of mid-sized marketing agencies in America, you have to get by with whatever experience you have on your design/development team. Sometimes you can get lucky — but when your security is breached (not IF but WHEN), the results can be disastrous.
In short, do you want to trust the entire future of your business and the security of all your websites to “Dave our HTML Developer,” or would you prefer to have a team of reliable, capable, and time-tested tech-junkies manning the helm of your ship? Because Linux Server Administration and Security Management is an entirely different skillset than coding websites!
LIABILITY!
Why, what’s the big deal – you’ve been “getting by” for years? Well, you may have dodged some major bullets; but all it takes is one catastrophic hack to knock you on your butt. As you know, when you host and maintain a client’s website(s) you are taking on a great deal of liability as guardian, steward, and protector of not only their data, but their entire business!
Many businesses will undergo financial loss if their website is down or sluggish for even a few hours, not to mention a few days or more. YOU are whom they place their trust and faith. If your team is not technically proficient enough to safeguard against hacking, lock down the security of your server environment, and/or ensure high performance and stability – then you are liable.
Because just as it only takes one bad meal (or poor service experience) at a restaurant to sully its good name, all it takes is ONE of your clients having their site hacked. “Why didn’t your firm protect our website better? This is on you!” Fair or not, that’s what they’ll say. And what’s worse, all it takes is ONE site being hacked to potentially spread to your entire server IF it’s not locked down and secured properly.
HOW CAN LOUD CANVAS HELP?
The team at Loud Canvas Media has been handling security and safeguarding thousands of websites on Dedicated Linux and VPS Servers (and all the Server Administration that goes with it) for over 15 years. We have proficiency in everything that’s needed to provision, maintain, and secure hundreds of sites per dedicated or virtual server.
We have mastered the best practices in Web Infrastructure, Linux security, website up-time and performance, virus and malware scanning, cloud and internal backup solutions, Firewall configuration, and most importantly: PROACTIVE and constant monitoring of all sites on your server(s). Simply said – we eat, sleep, and dream about web security; it’s a livelihood and an obsession, not just a hobby for us.
And we’re available day and night – 24/7/365 – to manage your server environment and ensure it’s working at peak performance and protected around the clock against hackers.
GIVE US A SHOT – FREE!
I highly encourage you to give us a call at 603-978-8841 to discuss further. We’d be more than happy to talk shop or “talk geek” with you or any member(s) of your team! Pick our brains and kick the tires. We’ll give you a full free month of service to try out what we can offer.
Remember Ben Franklin’s old adage: “One ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” We’ve personally been called in to handle virus remediation which has taken days to clean up; and when the dust had settled a mere 30 second security update could have prevented the entire debacle! We are proactive in our approach and even slightly fanatic about server security and website performance. This lets you focus on selling a top-tier, stable product to your clients—confident in the fact you don’t have any blind-spots to worry about.
HERE IS JUST A SMALL FRACTION OF WHAT WE OFFER:
UPDATES / MAINTENANCE
- Set up new Cpanel accounts for you as often as needed
- Install base WordPress setup for your design/development team to take over
- Manage your CPanel/WHM software on on-going basis
- Manually check all sites on your server(s) regularly for issues and/or inconsistencies
- Set up on-going and regular backups
- If desired, implement content changes and/or minor layout updates as/when needed (See Website Management Packages for a more comprehensive overview.) [optional service]
SECURITY
- Harden your CPanel/WHM installation
- Harden security for PHP, Database access, and SSH access
- Install Malware, Virus, and Security scanning software
- Install and track automated account virus scanning and malware monitoring
- Install and actively monitor one or multiple Firewalls on the site as well as server infrastructure (i.e. WHM/CSF)
- Regularly run manual Security Scans
- Implement Country-blocking by IP, as/when needed
- Install anti-DDOS attack software and actively monitor for threats
- Implement Cloudflare DDOS protection, as/when needed
PERFORMANCE / STABILITY
- Optimize functionality for maximum performance
- Implement top-tier site caching
- Install automated up-time reports for the site (tests url every 5 minutes)
- Implement CDN, as/when needed
- Implement Cloudflare, as/when needed
