NetHosted Blog

The release of Google’s new .zip and .mov top-level domains (TLDs) raises significant security concerns. By introducing TLDs associated with file compression and multimedia formats, it opens up the potential for increased cyber threats. Malicious actors could exploit these TLDs to deceive users and distribute malware, phishing scams, or other harmful content.

Reddit user LudwikTR shared a compelling example showcasing the potential exploitation of the .zip top-level domain (TLD) in a straightforward manner. You can find the detailed demonstration on the Reddit post linked here: Visit Post This demonstration sheds light on the risks associated with the .zip TLD and emphasizes the importance of implementing robust security measures.

We have tested a simple and effective solution to restrict access to the newly released .zip and .mov TLDs ensuring users receive a warning before accessing them. Our approach involves integrating uBlock Origin, a popular browser extension, and creating a custom filter rule. By implementing this solution, individuals can protect themselves from potential security risks associated with these TLDs. Safeguarding against malicious activities and enhancing online security is crucial, and our method provides a user-friendly way to achieve that.

You can install uBlock origin from the following links –

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublock-origin/cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm

Once you’ve installed your version of uBlock Origin – Click on the uBlock icon, click the Settings icon.

On this page you should be able to see a “My Filters” option. Click this and then paste in the following three lines:

! Block bad TLDs
||zip^
||mov^

These then block the entire TLDs for .zip and .mov from being loaded in your browser without a warning page being displayed.

As a website owner, you invest significant time and resources into developing and maintaining your website. However, unexpected events such as server crashes, malware attacks, and human errors can lead to data loss and website downtime. Regular website backups are crucial to ensuring that your website can be quickly restored to a previous state in the event of data loss or downtime. In this blog post, we’ll discuss the importance of regular website backups and how you can implement them to protect your website, ensuring that your data is secure and available.

What are website backups?

Website backups are copies of your website files and data that can be used to restore your website to a previous state. Backups can include your website’s database, files, themes, and plugins.

Why are website backups important?

Website backups are important for several reasons:

1. Protection against data loss: Website backups ensure that you can recover your website in case of data loss due to accidental deletion or a technical error. This helps protect your website’s data, including your content, images, and other media.
2. Faster recovery from website downtime: Website backups can help you recover your website quickly in case of website downtime caused by server crashes, malware attacks, or other technical issues. This helps to minimize website downtime, which can negatively affect your website’s SEO.
3. Improved website security: Website backups can help improve website security by enabling you to restore your website to a previous state in case of a malware attack or data breach. This helps prevent the loss of sensitive data and minimizes the impact on your customers and business.

How to implement website backups?

To implement website backups, you can:

1. Choose a reliable web hosting provider that offers automated website backups, at NetHosted we offer daily backups for websites hosted on our shared hosting plans.
2. Use a backup plugin for your content management system (CMS), such as WordPress – UpdraftPlus is one of the most popular.
3. Set up a manual backup process, which involves regularly downloading a copy of your website files and database.

Conclusion

In conclusion, regular website backups are essential to protect your website from data loss and downtime. By implementing a backup plan, you can ensure that your website can be quickly restored in the event of an unexpected event. Remember to choose a reliable web hosting provider and regularly test your website backups to ensure they are working correctly. By prioritizing website backups, you can protect your website and improve its SEO.

WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) in the world, powering over 40% of all websites on the internet. With the recent release of PHP 8, it is important to ensure that your WordPress site is compatible with the latest version of PHP. In this blog post, we discuss how to prepare your WordPress site for PHP 8+ ensuring optimum compatibility and performance.

Step 1: Check your WordPress site’s compatibility with PHP 8+

Before upgrading to PHP 8+, it is important to check if your WordPress site’s themes, plugins, and custom code are compatible with the latest version of PHP. You can use the PHP Compatibility Checker plugin to scan your site for compatibility issues. This plugin will generate a report highlighting any issues found.

Step 2: Clone your WordPress site using Installatron

Before making any changes to your live WordPress site, it is recommended to create a backup. Installatron is a popular tool that allows you to create a clone of your WordPress site with just a few clicks, you can then use this as a development version. Once you have installed Installatron on your web server, follow these steps to create a clone of your site:

1. Log in to your WordPress hosting control panel e.g. cPanel
2. Navigate to the Installatron section and click on “Applications Browser”
3. Find your WordPress site and click on “Clone”
4. Follow the prompts to create a clone of your site

Step 3: Change the PHP version in the directory

After creating a clone of your site, it is time to change the PHP version in the directory. You can do this by modifying the .htaccess file in your site’s root directory. Add the following lines to the top of your .htaccess file:

<FilesMatch ".(php4|php5|php3|php2|php|phtml)$">
SetHandler application/x-httpd-alt-php81___lsphp
</FilesMatch>

These lines tell Apache to use PHP 8+ for all PHP files on your site. Make sure to replace “lsphp” with your server’s PHP handler.

Step 4: Test your site

Once you have made the necessary changes, it is important to test your site to ensure that everything is working correctly. Check your site’s functionality, including any plugins or custom code that you may have installed.

Step 5: Update your live site

After testing your cloned site, it is time to update your live site. You can do this by following the same steps as above. Make sure to create a backup of your live site before making any changes.

In conclusion, upgrading your WordPress site to use PHP 8+ is essential for maintaining the security and performance of your site. By using Installatron to clone your site to a development version and modifying the .htaccess file, you can easily prepare your site for the latest version of PHP. Remember to test your site before updating your live site to avoid any potential issues.

As your website grows, so do your hosting needs. You need more server resources, higher performance, and better security to keep up with increasing traffic and demands. Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting is an excellent solution for growing websites that need more than shared hosting but are not ready for dedicated server hosting. In this blog post, we’ll discuss the benefits of VPS hosting for growing websites and why you should consider it for your website.

1. 1. Increased Server Resources – VPS hosting offers more server resources than shared hosting. With VPS hosting, you get dedicated CPU, RAM, and storage resources that are not shared with other users. You can read more about the different resource types here. This means your website will have more processing power and faster load times, which can improve user experience and SEO rankings.
2. 2. Scalability – VPS hosting is highly scalable, which means you can easily upgrade or downgrade your hosting plan based on your website’s needs. As your website grows, you can increase your server resources to accommodate increased traffic and demands.
3. 3. Improved Security – VPS hosting offers better security than shared hosting. With VPS hosting, you get your own dedicated IP address and operating system, which means your website is more isolated from other websites on the same server. This makes it more difficult for hackers to gain unauthorized access to your website.
4. 4. Root Access – VPS hosting offers root access, which gives you complete control over your server. You can install custom software, tweak server settings, and configure your server to meet your specific needs. This level of control is not available with shared hosting as this uses a standardised setup so you cannot configure certain server-wide settings.
5. 5. Cost-Effective – VPS hosting is a cost-effective solution for growing websites. While dedicated server hosting can be expensive, VPS hosting offers similar benefits at a lower cost. VPS hosting also allows you to pay only for the resources you need, which can help you save money.

In conclusion, VPS hosting is an excellent solution for growing websites that need more resources, scalability, security, control, and cost-effectiveness. If you’re currently on shared hosting and bumping up against resource limits, it’s time to consider upgrading to VPS hosting.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a crucial part of digital marketing. Website owners must consider various factors that impact their website’s search engine rankings. One of the factors that search engines like Google consider is website security. Websites that use HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) encryption are more secure than those that use HTTP. In this blog post, we’ll discuss why HTTPS is essential for SEO and how it can impact your website’s search engine rankings.

1. HTTPS uses encryption to protect data transmitted between a website and its visitors. It ensures that no unauthorized person can intercept or access this data. HTTPS is especially crucial for websites that require users to submit sensitive information such as passwords, credit card numbers, and personal details. By protecting user data, websites can build trust with their users and enhance their reputation, which can boost their SEO rankings.
2. Website Security – Websites that use HTTPS are less vulnerable to hacking, phishing, and other malicious activities. HTTPS encrypts data transmitted between a website and its users, making it difficult for hackers to intercept and steal this data. HTTPS also ensures that users are communicating with the intended website, preventing man-in-the-middle attacks. By improving website security, HTTPS can help website owners avoid penalties from search engines, which can lower their SEO rankings.
3. Boosts SEO Rankings – Search engines like Google prioritise websites that prioritise user security. Google has been pushing website owners to adopt HTTPS encryption for several years now. Websites that use HTTPS encryption are more likely to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) than those that use HTTP. Google has confirmed that HTTPS is a search engine ranking factor. By using HTTPS, website owners can improve their website’s SEO rankings leading to increased traffic and conversions.
4. Enhances User Experience – Website visitors are more likely to trust and engage with websites that use HTTPS encryption. HTTPS ensures that the website they are visiting is authentic and trustworthy. It will show the padlock in the web browser address bar instead of a “Not Secure” warning. Additionally, HTTPS encryption can improve website speed and performance, which can enhance the user experience. By providing a seamless user experience, website owners can improve their website’s SEO rankings.

In conclusion, HTTPS is essential for SEO. By encrypting data, improving website security, boosting SEO rankings, and enhancing user experience, HTTPS can help website owners build trust with their users and improve their website’s reputation. Website owners should prioritise HTTPS adoption to avoid penalties from search engines and improve their SEO rankings. You can view our SSL certificate guide if you wish to set this up on your hosting.

WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) in the world. Its popularity has made it a prime target for hackers and malware attacks. A compromised WordPress install can lead to serious consequences, including loss of sensitive data, reputational damage, and loss of revenue. In this blog post, we’ll discuss some practical tips to secure WordPress from compromise and malware.

1. Keep WordPress Updated

WordPress developers regularly release updates to patch security vulnerabilities and improve the platform’s overall performance. The latest version of WordPress will always have the most up-to-date security features. You should ensure that your WordPress site is always running the latest version. You can enable automatic updates to ensure that your site is always up-to-date.

2. Use Strong Passwords

Weak passwords are easy for hackers to crack, and they can quickly gain access to your WordPress admin panel. It’s essential to use strong passwords that are difficult to guess. A strong password should contain at least 12 characters and a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters.

3. Limit Login Attempts

By default, WordPress allows users to attempt to log in as many times as they want, making it easy for hackers to use brute force attacks to crack passwords. You can use plugins like Login Lockdown or Limit Login Attempts to limit the number of login attempts.

4. Use Two-Factor Authentication

Two-factor authentication (2FA) adds an extra layer of security to your WordPress site. It requires users to provide an additional authentication factor, such as a code sent to their mobile device, in addition to their username and password. This makes it more challenging for hackers to gain access to your site even if they have your password. This can be added by installing a plugin such as WordFence.

5. Install a WordPress Security Plugin

Several WordPress security plugins can help protect your site from compromise and malware attacks. Some popular options include WordFence, iThemes Security, and Sucuri Security. These plugins can scan your site for vulnerabilities, block suspicious traffic, and monitor your site for any signs of compromise.

6. Use HTTPS/SSL

HTTPS is a protocol for secure communication over the internet. It encrypts data sent between your website and its visitors, making it difficult for hackers to intercept sensitive information. You should ensure that your WordPress site uses HTTPS and has an SSL certificate installed.

7. Disable File Editing

By default, WordPress allows administrators to edit PHP files from the WordPress admin panel. This can be a security risk as it allows hackers who have gained access to your admin panel to modify your site’s code. You can disable file editing by adding the following code to your wp-config.php file:

define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true);

In conclusion, securing your WordPress site from compromise and malware attacks requires a proactive approach. Having secure WordPress hosting helps, but by following these tips, you can significantly reduce the risk of your WordPress site being hacked. Keep your WordPress site updated, use strong passwords, limit login attempts, use two-factor authentication, install a security plugin, using HTTPS/SSL, and disabling file editing. By implementing these security measures, you can rest assured that your WordPress site is secure from compromise and malware.