Is it still possible for hackers to break into your website even if you are on a secure server?

Question

I'm interested in placing part of my website on a secure server, but I want to make sure that's going to be enough to prevent hacking. Do I need to purchase additional software or will the secure server be enough?

Answer 1

I assume that by secure server you mean that you will be using SSL with a valid security cetificate for pages where personal or financial data will be transferred.

SSL only encrypts and protect the data as it is being transmitted over the wire. So if the data is intercepted using a packet sniffer, the hacker will not be able to see that actual data like credit card numbers in the data he has intercepted.

SSL will not protect the data once it is on your webserver, you will still need to ensure the all up to date security patches have been applied to the OS, Web Server, Preprocessor software, and database. You also need to ensure that any PHP or ASP pages arent suseptible to SQL injection which would allow your data to be stolen or changed.

Answer 2

Check this out, courtesy of the BBC website: 20th June '07


More than 10,000 websites have become unwitting hosts of malicious software, say security experts.

Those visiting the hijacked pages risk having keylogging software installed on their PC if it is not protected with the latest patches.

The webpages compromised are all legitimate sites devoted to subjects such as tax, jobs, tourism and cars.

The sites are thought to have been booby-trapped using a malware kit, called MPack, sold commercially online.

Hacked host

The MPack kit was first discovered by Panda Software in May 2007 and is now implicated in infections on more than 160,000 computers.

The kit, put together by Russian hackers, can be bought for $1,000 (£503) and the price includes a year of technical support.

Using the kit, budding hi-tech criminals can churn out code that exploits the latest vulnerabilities in widely used web browsers that work on Windows.

The latest round of infections using MPack is thought to be one of the most successful.

It is believed to have started when malicious hackers got access to one of Italy's largest website hosting companies and seeded servers with the code that attacks anyone visiting those sites.

Security experts say the attack code is "browser aware" and will tune its attack depending on the web browsing software used by a visitor. Attack code is present for Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera.

Following the initial outbreak in Italy, booby-trapped sites are now turning up in Spain, the US and many other nations.

The new outbreaks come about as the attack code is inserted on more and more legitimate websites.

Hundreds of thousands of users are thought to have been caught out by the infection.

Many anti-virus companies have already updated their security software to defend against the attacks used in this outbreak.

Answer 3

It will always depend on what language your site is written in and the code it uses specifically.

Answer 4

Read these articles;
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,128758-pg,1/article.html

This one may give you a popup, it will minimize, so, bring it up and click the X top right.
http://www.spywarehunter.org/entry/super-bowl-virus-spreading-wide/

Answer 5

everything is hackable security is just means its harder to hack but if someone really wanted to anything can be hacked

Answer 6

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