Every company relies on a server, whether they pay for it through a host or they have their own. It’s how websites stay up and running and massive amounts of data remain stored for future use. Given the importance of servers and the volume of information they hold, these targets are some of the most prized by hackers. Who may see dollar signs for breaking in or just enjoy the mischief they cause.
Importance of Server Security
This is why server security absolutely must be a priority. There is too much to lose if it’s not. Taking this step for granted—say, by using some bargain host because they cost less—comes with too much risk. In case you think we’re exaggerating the threat here, remember what happened to the Obamacare website at the beginning of the year.
According to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) spokesman Aaron Albright, the attack actually occurred on July 8th. Though it either wasn’t discovered or wasn’t announced until September.
The hackers uploaded a malware designed to trigger a DDoS to attack against other sites. It wasn’t put there to steal personal information, but to crash the site. DDoS attacks do this by overwhelming computers. Attempting to communicate with a site with so much malware it eventually shuts down inadvertently.
Even if the hackers had been after personal info, they would have been attacking the wrong server as the one they went after wasn’t even responsible for HealthCare.gov. It was just for programmers who wanted to test code before it went live.
Scary Situation
Nonetheless, this is still a scary incident for a few reasons. First, we’d all like to think that the servers our government uses are impenetrable. Fortunately, this attack didn’t affect open enrollment in November. But if the hackers had hit a different server, we may not have been so lucky. Obviously, there is no shortage of other government servers out there that would probably prove attractive to a malicious party.
That’s a pretty scary mistake for someone to make and no one to notice.
Third, it apparently didn’t take any great skill to hack this server because it was protected by the manufacturer’s default password. This means a DDoS attack against our government may have been carried out simply because someone typed “1-2-3-4-5†into the password prompt.
Don’t let this kind of thing become a threat to your company. At ServerPronto, we take server security seriously and are always happy to coach our customers on steps they should take to protect themselves as well.
ServerPronto offers the best affordable and secure hosting service in all dedicated server packages.
Source:
Hackers break into server for Obamacare website: U.S. officials
Photo cred: Flickr /Â powtac
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