When considering a VPN service provider, be absolutely sure that this provider uses these technologies in order to keep both your connection and data secure.

Confidentiality

Since your private data will be traveling over a public network, making sure your VPN provider offers data confidentiality is absolutely vital for security. Most VPN providers will take all the data being sent from one computer to another and encrypt it, and then decrypt it when it reaches the other computer. There are three common protocols that most VPNs use, and they are:

• PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol)
• L2TP (Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol)
• SSTP (Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol)

Make sure your VPN provider uses one of these protocols for maximum security for your network. Having an anonymous VPN is vital for network security.

Data Integrity

In addition to making sure that the data you’re sending is encrypted over the public network, it’s also vital that your VPN makes sure that the data hasn’t been changed while traveling over that network. IPsec is able to ensure that the data being sent hasn’t been tampered with, and has ways to drop the data if it has been tampered with. It’s very important that your VPN has a way to detect if data has been tampered with.

An important part of data integrity is data origin authentication. Data origin authentication means verifying the origin and source of the data that’s being sent. Common hacking techniques involve masking the identity of the sender, which is why having data origin authentication is important to the overall security of your network.

AAA

AAA stands for authentication, authorization, and accounting, and it’s used for even more security with a remote-access VPN. AAA requires user authentication, meaning anybody who uses a computer with pre-configured VPN client software must log into the network in order to access the VPN.

When using a VPN with AAA, the VPN will check the user name and password of the person attempting to send the data. It then checks the following:

• Who you are
• What you have authorization to do
• What it is that you are doing

Having AAA with your VPN is important because it allows for tracking of client use, and can come in big handy for billing and auditing.

Conclusion

Having a secure, confidential, and fast network is necessary. If your business deals with a lot of confidential information, failing to find a VPN with all of the above securities means you’re putting your data at risk. Consider switching VPNs if your provider doesn’t offer all of the above, as you should be able to get all the security for not much more cost.

Image credit: http://media.paloaltonetworks.com

The post Make Sure Your VPN Has the Right Technologies for Security appeared first on AddMe Blog.

Just a few days ago, I was reminiscing over these good old times and when I decided to write simple guide to web hosting for all those people who are facing a similar kind of dilemma I faced back then. It doesn’t matter what your intent is; whether you’re going to run your official website for selling woven mittens or you’re going to create a prank website to troll your friends, the basics for choosing a web host remain the same. First and foremost, what exactly is your budget? And if you don’t have one, I highly recommend you cough up a few bucks. Sure, there are many free web hosting services but then your website is at their disposal in terms of advertisements. This creates a two-fold problem. Firstly, your website design gets compromised (Nasty banners, pop-ups, frame codes) and secondly, you don’t get to have your own domain (you have to use a subdomain that the free web host provides you.

Now that we have decided to gregariously spare a few bucks for a web host, let’s move on to the next consideration: data transfer. This option really depends on how much traffic is expected on your website and you should choose the amount of bandwidth required accordingly. Don’t trust statements like “unlimited bandwidth” – there’s always a catch. Learn to read between the lines and choose a plan that caters to the expected traffic on your web site. For an approximate reference, if you don’t plan on keeping multimedia streams or software archives on your webpage, you’ll be good with 3 GB of bandwidth per month. But remember that your website will grow over time and always consider what type of “coverage” deal your web host offers.

Disk Space
Disk space is also very important and different from bandwidth (a fact I didn’t know back in 2005!), and your website is definitely going to need some. If your website isn’t going to have any heavy duty multimedia, my recommendation is to stay around the 50 MB mark. Surprised? Most web hosting services over-charge you with huge amounts of disk space which is practically useless unless you plan on uploading U2′s discography onto your website.

Technical Features
Alright, now it’s time to get down and dirty with the technical stuff. Usually people start off with basic web designs but later they have this epiphany of installing various PHP scripts and modifying their websites in all possible ways. Some commercial hosts don’t allow such sorcery! For this reason, it is always a good idea to check beforehand that the following are supported by your host.

Let’s review a few bare essentials:

PHP, Perl
Useful for incorporating scripts

.htaccess
This is necessary if you want to come up with fancy 404 error page messages e.g. “Whoopsie daises! This webpage doesn’t exist!”

MySQL
Really important if you plan on using applications that require databases (surveys, polls, quizzes, etc)

Cron
This one is a program scheduler. Go for it if you plan on not sitting in front of the computer all day!

SSL (Secure Server)
High priority item if your website involves monetary transactions!

POP3, Mail Forwarding
These features are included in most paid packages but still make sure you check before signing up if you want a cool myname@mywebsite.com. Moreover, ensure that you have mail forwarding and auto-responder service unless you want to respond to emails all day.

FTP Access
Quite basic, but still, it doesn’t hurt to double check.

Windows vs. Linux
Moving on to the topic of supported OS on the server – this is another thing you need to keep in mind. This becomes important if you’re planning on using ASP programs, in which case, Windows is the only OS that can rescue you. But otherwise, Linux is almost always the better option. Since you want maximum control of your web account, it is always essential to check what freedom is being offered in terms of control. Can you add/delete/edit email accounts along with passwords? Can you manage simple tasks yourself or do you have to contact the technical support for each elementary task?

This brings us to another important consideration: how good is their technical support? You don’t want to be stuck behind your work desk on a Saturday night, frantically cursing your host just because their technical support is only available on weekdays. Again, it all depends on what kind of website you plan to host. 24/7 is a captivating word, but don’t fall for it. Most web hosting services will merrily tell you that they have active support 24/7, but how is their response time? Do they have capable people for troubleshooting all-round the clock? Test them by sending in a few dummy problem emails. After all, you want tech savvy troubleshooters all round the clock that can deal with your problems.

Choosing a Payment Plan
Before choosing a payment plan, look at all the plans being offered. This is where we let our stringent selves roam free. Unless you’re sure about your host’s integrity, honesty, and reliability (heavy words in the tech world), don’t go for an annual/quarterly package. You’re better of sticking to the monthly one. Sure, the yearly and quarterly packages seem cheaper in the long run but they tie you down to your host and you’ll be out of luck if you decide to change hosts later on. On the other hand, if you do decide to go for an annual package, make sure you are confident in your choice and there is an anytime money back guarantee (not many hosts offer this).

Last but not least, always do your homework before choosing your host. Don’t go for a web host because they have a nice catch phrase or because their name sounds cool. A lot can go wrong if you hastily make your decision and go for the first web host you see. Remember to read legitimate reviews over the internet (stress on the word “legitimate”) and make sure your web host offers exactly what you require. Read reviews from various people from various websites so you don’t end up consulting biased reviews. Reading reviews can be tricky but remember to read between the lines. Is it an “overly-satisfied” customer on a shady website? Is it a highly scornful customer on another shady website? Once you’ve consulted all the reviews, it’s time to use your own brain and make a decision!

The post The Beginner’s Guide to Choosing a Web Host appeared first on AddMe Blog.

As the web hosting industry becomes more and more competitive,
customers are relying increasingly on various Web Hosting review site
rankings to help them separate the quality web hosting options from the
nightmare that can result from choosing the wrong host. But before you
choose your next host based on reviews or rankings, make sure the right
questions have been asked, and beware the lies in the promoted answers.

Wait, lies?

Yes, lies.

One of the inevitable hallmarks of a competitive free market is unscrupulous behavior by some unethical companies to get ahead. In short, lying, cheating and deceiving you to get your business.

These are the dirty secrets web hosting review sites don’t want you to know:

1. Many Web Hosting Review sites run for profit.

Running a website for profit is not, in and of itself, a dishonest thing. However, it is a big red-flag for any site promoting rankings, rating, or reviews, for one reason: bias.
Bias can take many forms.

In the worst cases, it’s flat-out extortion. Some review websites accept what amounts to a bribe from web hosting companies to artificially raise their ranking. Those who pay are listing at the top and reviewed positively, and those who don’t are condemned. Such rankings are obviously have nothing to do with the quality of the web hosting providers service and are therefore completely corrupt.

High-traffic review sites may even attempt to outright blackmail web hosts, threatening to promote poor reviews to their site visitors if the host does not pay for a positive rank.

Lesson: Be wary of any Website Host Review site that is run for-profit.

2. Many Website Host Review sites run “affiliate”, “sponsored”, “referral”, “link to us”, or “advertise with us” paid link exchange programs.

Paid link exchange programs are an instant giveaway of a corrupt review site. If you see the words “affiliate”, “sponsored”, “referral”, “link to us”, or “advertise with us” anywhere on the review site, it means they may be accepting payment to manipulate reviews and rankings, and should not be trusted.

Some Website Host Review sites negotiate a “referral” credit to ranked sites for referring new customers to them. Again, the web hosts that are willing to pay out the most to the review site will be ranked highest. This is a scam!

Tip: Check the page course on outgoing <A HREF> links. If they are linked through a .cgi or .php script to track clicks, the site is probably running an affiliate program.

Lesson: Do not trust any Website Host Review site that does not clearly identify its “affiliate” (paid) links, reviews, and ratings.  

3. Many Website Host Review write their own reviews and rate their own rankings. 

The conflict of interest here should be obvious. Real customer feedback is absolutely critical to establishing a genuine review or ranking of a service.

However, many review sites write their own reviews, often without even being customers of the service! The information may be incomplete, inaccurate, selective, or outright slanderous just to make the host look bad.

Have no doubt that if a review  site is writing its own content, they will not hesitate to warp reviews to suit their favor and sling mud at any web host that does not pay them to keep the good word.

Likewise, some review sites control their own rankings without any external user feedback, meaning they can rank hosts any way they please — usually to the highest bidder.

Lesson: Always be on the lookout for self-interest, bias, and conflict of interest in reviews and rankings.

4. Many Website Host Review selectively edit or moderate submitted reviews.  

In show business, “any news” might be good news, but in the website hosting business, a poor review can be very damaging to a legitimate company’s reputation and sales.

Some review sites exploit this by selectively editing or moderating otherwise legitimate reviews submitted by website host customers. By featuring a negative review more or less prominently; these sites can again manipulate hosts into paying unfairly to protect their name from bad press.

Likewise, positive reviews can be featured by Website Host Review sites to artificially promote a cooperating (read: paying) Website Host with more visibility and a higher standing in rankings, while still appearing to be a legitimate and unbiased review site.

Lesson: Take everything you read in a review or ranking with a grain of salt until you can verify it yourself.

5. Not all Web Hosts are created equal.

Besides all this paranoid talk about corruption and bribery, remember too that not every host is created equally. Thus, not every host is fit to be ranked by the same (often overly-simplistic) criteria in a review or ranking.

Many review  sites will only consider the most basic criteria of a hosting package, whereby the deeper nuances of the Host’s services, customer service, or professional conduct may be what really sets the company apart.

Lesson: Be wary of the scope and criteria of reviews, and make sure they actually address the issues that concern you as a customer!  

6. When money’s involved, who’s “best” has nothing to do with it.   

As a customer, you want to choose the Website Host who will serve your needs best. Unfortunately, when money is involved with Website Hosting Review sites, the reviews and rankings presented may have little to nothing to do with who’s really “best”.

So for you as a customer, the best thing you can do is your own research. Let the companies speak for themselves. Call prospective web hosting companies yourself, and talk to them about their services and features. Look for hosts that offer a service guarantee or trial offer. Ask your friends who they use, and what their experiences have been.

Lesson: Always trust your own research and network over the opinion of any potentially-biased anonymous review, no matter how legitimate it seems.

Thanks to our friends at MyHosting.com for this post.

The post What Web Hosting Review Sites Don’t Want You to Know appeared first on AddMe Blog.

Instead of having multiple browser windows open comparing each webhost and their key features we’ve decided to bring all these host’s together, incorporating all their key web hosting features into a easy to read tool.

All hosting plans can be sorted by Hosting Name, Plan, Disk Size, Data Transfer, Monthly and setup costs – making it simple to sort and compare like hosting plans.

This truly is a very handy tool, saving time and the frustration of finding the best host for the job – enough from me, compare hosting plans for yourself!

The post Looking For a Web Host? appeared first on AddMe Blog.