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Sidebar Two

Outsourcing

While this article has discussed resistance to hostile attack,

in its broadest sense, security encompasses everything that is

done to ensure that computerized data is usable when it's

needed. In addition to cracking attempts, Web servers are also

subject to power failures, Internet connectivity problems, and

system crashes. Even if you have the wherewithal to properly

maintain your Web host, you might not be able to afford redundant

network connections and an emergency generator with several days

of fuel. No matter what your budget, a Web-hosting firm can usually

provide a more reliable level of service than you can provide

yourself.

The best ISPs offer a higher level of protection than is practical

for virtually any organization to provide for itself. The worst

ISPs will put your critical Web pages on a casually administered

server shared by several hundred other customers--some of

whose pages might attract undesirable attention. To some extent,

you get what you pay for. While a $25-per-month Web service might

very well offer you a more secure host than you can provide yourself,

evaluating its offerings will be difficult.

To appraise a hosting service's security posture, ask

for details on the qualifications of its security administrators.

Find out how many years of experience they have administering

that specific operating system. Find out what their security

policy is and if they will let you review it. Ask them specifically

how they isolate security between clients, what they do to monitor

for attacks, and whether the service is staffed around the clock.

If one person is managing Web service, the operating-system platform,

the routers, and security, that individual is spread too thin

and doesn't have the time necessary to become a security

expert (or an expert on anything else). Ideally, try to visit

the hosting site and meet with the security administrators.

Most inexpensive hosting services use UNIX, especially BSDI,

because it supports multihosting--the ability for a single

server to support several hundred different domain names and

IP addresses. This is very cost effective, and performance is

acceptable, even on Intel platforms, for sites that don't

attract huge amounts of traffic. ISPs usually also use UNIX for

their busiest sites. Most of the prominent Web sites are running

on huge rack-mounted Suns, which are scalable and robust. Certainly

ISPs and Web services attract people who tend to be UNIX-oriented,

but NT is becoming more visible. Customer-oriented hosting services

realize that many companies do not have their own UNIX shops

and prefer NT, so they support both platforms.

Don't expect your ISP's Web farm to be protected

behind a firewall--the overhead and inconvenience are too

great to make it practical. If the servers are properly maintained

and monitored, a firewall would add very little additional protection.

--JH

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