Secure Passwords are Easy to Implement, but Too Often Overlooked

Ask the average person how many user names and passwords they have for various accounts, subscriptions, etc., and they’ll likely have to think for several moments before coming up with an answer. Even then they may omit a few of them unintentionally; such is the nature of modern life, where digital accounts are abundant and password protection is a standard.

Many, however, continuously re-use the same or similar user names and passwords for multiple accounts and base them on easy-to-crack phrases or numbers, such as birthdays, addresses, etc. While this is likely never a good idea, in a hosting environment it can lead to disaster.

Because websites are often the catalyst for an online business’s success, the web server is an integral part of the business as well. Properly protecting hosting accounts with secure passwords is also extremely important. Several of the most popular methods that site administrators use to access a server are FTP, SSH and Control Panel software.

In all instances, an easy-to-crack password could result in dire consequences which include – but are certainly not limited to – the following:

• Unauthorized access to account data or sensitive financial data
• Lawsuits and liability resulting from improper user data protection
• Shutting down or “hijacking” of the server and websites
• Use of the site to send unsolicited, bulk e-mail (spam)
• Use of the site to distribute spyware, viruses and trojan horses
• Short to long-term loss of business due to site downtime
• Loss of business credibility due to improper data protection

The best way to avoid such problems is to simply employ a reasonable password creation and maintenance policy. Follow these steps and you should be well-protected:

• Change your password monthly and ensure that your employees do as well
• Limit password-protected access only to those who truly require access
• Avoid using passwords that are based on birthdays, addresses, etc.
• Use a variety of characters in passwords, including non alpha-numeric characters

Take those simple steps and you will likely save your company a great deal of trouble in the future.

The IE Domain Registry (IEDR) has awarded the Annual Domain Registry Achievement Award to LetsHost. As one of Ireland’s leading domain registration and web hosting companies, the Award recognises LetsHost as being one of the most significant contributors to the growth and development of dot.ie registrations in the past year.

At a ceremony held a Trinity College, Dublin on Monday 19th May 2008, Directors Graeme Conkie and Daragh MacLoughlin were presented with the award by Eamon Ryan, Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. The award consists of a perpetual trophy and a €5000 prize.

At the ceremony, LetsHost Director Graeme Conkie praised the relaxation in the past year of some .ie rules by the IEDR, including the use of the .ie namespace for personal names.

“The relaxation of .ie rules for personal domains has meant a significant growth. Some restrictions still remain but the regulations in place are key to the reputation of the Irish name as one of the safest domains in the world,” he added.

Daragh MacLoughlin, Director of LetsHost said: “We are delighted. The IEDR annual achievement accolade comes as an extremely important reward to the work we have done in the past few years to promote the .ie name space. We are very happy to work towards building and promoting the .ie brand and thrilled our work is being recognised by the IEDR. We are looking forward to working with the IEDR in years to come”.

LetsHost have adopted new API functions made avaialable by the IEDR to automate the process of .ie domain registrations, and are unique in the market of a dual vetting process that ensures only valid .ie applications are processed to the IEDR. This unique method makes sure that only the highest quality registrations that are more likely to be authorised are sent to the IEDR. If any information is missing form an application, customers are immediately notified and all relevant information can be collected to ensure a smooth and quick domain registration.

A 100% Irish-based company, Letshost.ie is the hosting provider leading the reduction price for .ie domain names and offering the cheapest .ie domains in Ireland (currently only €19.99).

Following the company’s extraordinary growth over the past year, Letshost.ie are also delighted to announce the opening of a second office in Galway City, in the coming weeks, and will be employing 3 new high tech staff members to complement the current support team providing technical support to over 11,000 Irish hosting customers.

We are delighted to announce that the IEDR have today increased the number of zone reloads from 2 to 4.  They have also increased the frequency of the reloads from 5 to 7 days a week. 

The new rebuild times are:
10:00, 12:00, 17:00 and 22:00 – every day, 365 days a year

This change will result in modificationas to existing .ie domains and new .ie domain registrations being processed much more efficiently.