We have enabled a new feature for clients using our hosting packages (reseller hosting, SEO hosting, standard web hosting, e-commerce hosting, and website builder hosting), which will allow you to unblock your IP if you should be temporarily blocked or banned by our hosting server firewalls.

TurnKey utilizes highly secure servers, software, and firewall monitoring systems, which block remote access to IPs that appear to be repeatedly doing things they shouldn’t (like trying to login using the wrong password hundreds of times in a few minute period).  Unfortunately, from time to time, this can impact you, or the web sites you host for friends or clients, when someone has a misconfigured password somewhere.  In cases like this, it’s easier for you to be able to remove the block on your IP (and to see why it was blocked) and to do it instantly via the new web-based interface we have provided for you.

To access this system, go to https://secure.turnkeyinternet.net, click the link on the right-hand tool bar that says UNBLOCK IPS FROM FIREWALL, and you will have full and instant access.

Clients with VPS, cloud, dedicated, or colocated servers who think a firewall has blocked them, will need to open a support ticket for additional help – this feature is only for those on our hosting platforms as noted above.

If you have any questions, or continue to have issues, feel free to open a support ticket.

No matter what business you’re in, data security is important to you and to your current and potential clients. For many small business owners, the fear of poor security is enough to inspire them to invest huge amounts of money in in-house data infrastructures to run their businesses. In many (if not most) cases, this level of infrastructure far exceeds what the company needs, or even what it can handle. Hiring the IT staff necessary to keep in-house technology running and up-to-date, alone, can put you out of business. And with the constant evolution of technology today, the costs are not likely to go down any time soon. On top of all that, your data security probably isn’t as solid as you think it is.

Downsize

The first step towards financial independence from your IT infrastructure is downsizing. I don’t just mean buying cheaper or less robust equipment, I mean getting rid of your equipment all together. It might seem like a bold step, but the number of world-class, secure, affordable web hosting and data storage providers out there make this step a no-brainer. Not only will you enjoy improved data security and performance, your out-of-pocket costs will plummet. Good web hosting companies can afford to have the most robust, powerful security measures available. Why not trust the experts?

Going Remote

While it will probably feel strange at first–like you’re arriving at high school without your pants–you will quickly realize how liberating it is to trust your data to a company that specializes in security. If you do your homework and sign up with a reputable company that offers guarantees (guaranteed backups, guaranteed bandwidth, etc.) you will have someone to hold accountable when things go wrong, and you will be protected by their terms of service and their public reputation. No good web hosting company is going to let your business fail because that means their business fails. In an online climate where word of mouth makes and breaks businesses every day, the small business consumer is protected like never before. Also, when your data is accessible remotely, your office suddenly becomes mobile. You can access your business website, client records, everything, via a secure remote connection. This can be a real boon for a small business, especially when that business only has a few very busy employees.

Save The Green

By outsourcing all of your IT costs, you won’t have to worry about electricity, IT staff, hardware replacements or the potential for catastrophic data loss due to fire, flood or any other natural or man-made disaster. Your business won’t be tied to one physical location. If you sign up with a company that has multiple data centers, you can opt to have your data backed-up to multiple geographic sites. This redundancy protects you, your clients and your business future.

Upgrades

One of the most compelling reasons to get your infrastructure out of your office is the possibility for on-the-fly technology upgrades. What if your business suddenly takes off? Do you want to be held back by your aging infrastructure? With a good web host, you can add server space quickly and easily. Often all you will need to do is submit an online order!

Support

If you are not particularly tech-oriented, or don’t feel entirely comfortable letting go of your hardware, find a package that includes fully managed support. Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone to call when things go wrong? Someone who knows the technology backwards and forwards, and who’s fee is already included in your monthly bill? Yes. Yes it would.

Provider Competence

Of course, what goes without saying here, is that you need to find a solid, reputable provider (that’s right, I said it anyway). In addition to solid guarantees and a good TOS, look for a company with a proven track record with small businesses like yours. If other business owners are happy with the service, chances are you will be too. Funnily enough, one such business pops to mind: TurnKey Internet. We specialize in small businesses! We also offer a huge collection of additional automation services to streamline every aspect of your business. Hop on live chat if you’ve got questions. We’d love to make you an offer you can’t refuse 😉

Anyone who spends time online will eventually come in contact with malware. The purpose of malware is to access personal computers in order to procure sensitive information or to cause damage. Many infected files are designed specifically to avoid detection by traditional antivirus software, and may sneak through entirely under the radar. Often the goal of malware is to record a user’s surfing habits for the purposes of targeted advertising. This information is incredibly valuable to marketing agencies, though it is, of course, illegal and a major breach of your personal privacy and security. Even worse, however, is the malware that records sensitive information like credit card numbers and social security numbers.

While consumers are the ultimate victims, it’s the websites they visit that serve as the vectors for distribution. Malware can’t find the consumer without the help of the popular website. If you are the owner and operator of a website (and who isn’t these days?) you may be inadvertently infecting your visitor’s computers with malicious malware! Talk about undermining trust!

If you are a business owner and the malware is secretly being distributed through your business website, you are running the risk every day of exploiting the very people you have worked so hard to attract to your business. If they find out where that malware came from (that malware that led to identity theft, robbery or worse) you better believe they will tell everyone they know never to visit your website!

Worse still, Google is excellent at rapidly flagging websites with malicious content. If this happens you won’t have to wait for a victimized client to complain, your traffic will plummet overnight. Potential clients won’t even see your website in search results and your business will suffer.

Protecting yourself from malware means protecting your clients. If your clients know they can trust your website security, they know they can trust your business. If you are looking for an easy, affordable solution, we offer TurnKeySSL, a security solution that includes HackAlert, an early warning system against zero-day attacks. This system passively monitors your website and identifies breaches right away so you can take evasive action and avoid any potentially disastrous consequences. Keep your customers safe! They’ll thank you for it.

Learn more:
http://turnkeyssl.com

This month sees the launch of our new TurnKeySSL, a robust SSL solution you can activate with one click! In today’s marketplace, SSL certificates are a necessity. Customers have come to recognize that SSL certificates equal privacy and security and an increasing number of them won’t shop online without the seal.  TurnKeySSL takes this one step further, now bundling our brand new web site malware scaning tool for your web site with our professional SSL certificates!

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with SSL, SSL stands for “Secure Sockets Layer,” a protocol designed to enable applications to transmit information securely back and forth over the internet. Many applications you likely use every day (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, SFTP and hundreds more) are equipped to automatically receive SSL connections. However, if you run your own website and have tried to setup an SSL certificate in the past, you know how complicated and confusing the process can be to get your web applications to establish a secure SSL connection.    Enter: TurnKeySSL the easiest to install SSL certificate available today, with 1-click technology to install on any web site!

Signing up for TurnKeySSL is fast: we don’t require any paperwork to issue your SSL certificate. We issue TurnKeySSL certificates in minutes via our secure website. We have several plans to suit your needs, from our instant 1-click issuance SSL to our Extended Validation plan that comes with the green bar–the same secure seal used by Verisign, Paypal, and all the major shopping sites on the Internet today.  In the potentially perilous online marketplace, visible security means increased sales!

TurnKeySSL certificates come with a clickable secure site seal, malware scanning and multi-year savings. We even offer the brand new one-click SSL creating a simple and  easy way to deploy an SSL certificate on your web site today.

Check out our TurnKeySSL website to learn more:
http://turnkeyssl.com

Reduced Data Leakage

This is one of the first things cloud vendors will tell you, and they’ll be right. Many laptops are not safely protecting data with the appropriate encryption. Data is sent here and there and it’s lost here and there. Cloud encryption protects transmitted data every time. And then there’s the obvious data “leakage” issue (read: loss). How many hard drives need to fail before we all recognize the incredible peace of mind cloud storage can provide? Cloud hosting varies in its security offerings, so look for a host that offers secure firewalls and robust backups (read: Turnkey Internet).

Better Monitoring

Centralized storage makes it easier to monitor and control your data. Yes, this does  mean you’re putting all of your data eggs in one basket, but as an IT professional I would much rather know where my data is and focus my security efforts on that location than spread my data all over the place and hope for the best. Besides, “all in one place” doesn’t have the same meaning for cloud servers. Cloud networks are mirrored so data is safe, regardless of what might happen to a single machine.

Responding to Problems

If a cloud server is compromised, it’s a matter of seconds to restore all of the lost data from backups. This means you have no downtime, ever. You can restore data remotely, from anywhere, and with your robust cloud monitoring, you’ll know the second a problem arises. With all of your data in one location, you can easily assess the security problem and fix it.

Improved Logs

Logging is often overlooked, or it’s an afterthought and this means you may not have enough room allocated for your logs. With the cloud, you can index your logs for instant search results. This is true real-time view of your information. If your company is concerned with establishing a C2 audit trail, you can easily opt-in to allocate resources for extended logging.

Improved Security Software Performance

Security vendors are more accountable when their clients are more vigilant. The security concerns so many of us have surrounding the cloud have made many security software companies step up their game. They’re not only making their software more comprehensive and robust, they’re making it more efficient. Cloud clients are watching their billable CPU cycles. They know how much it’s costing them to run software. Visibility equals accountability.

A colocated server is a privately owned server hosted at a datacenter, rather than in a home or business. Datacenters offer security, regulated power (with backup generators), fire protection, dedicated Internet connections, and climate control.

Customization

While the customer provides his own hardware, the facility offers choices of storage, connectivity, backup solutions, and security to suit the customer’s needs. The customer also has freedom to upgrade at any time.

Connectivity

Many datacenters offer fully-redundant network connections. At TurnKey Internet, we offer a 100% up-time guarantee on all colocated servers.

Financial Benefits

For small and medium-sized businesses housing servers in their offices, costs can be extremely high. Employing technicians, energy costs and maintaining infrastructure is extremely costly. By housing hardware in a datacenter, all of that is taken care of with support staff available to troubleshoot 24×7. Colocating is also a much greener option. A datacenter is considerably more energy efficient than an office.

Storage

Getting those servers out of the office opens up space and keeps things quiet so employees can work. Server fans are loud!

Disaster Recovery

Datacenters offer remote backup sites in case of disaster. If the unthinkable happens, your data is safe.

Security

Firewalls, security cameras, guards and other precautionary measures insure the safety of your physical hardware and virtual network.

Most office copiers these days contain hard drives that store data from every copy, print-out and scan you and your colleagues have ever made. The security risk is huge but many companies neglect to wipe their copier’s hard drives when they replace the equipment. Recently, a piece on CBS news exposed the dangers of this kind of security leak by searching through four used copiers purchased from a New Jersey warehouse. They mined the hard drives from the copiers with free software, available to anyone on the Internet.

What the investigators found was shocking. One of the copiers had belonged to the Buffalo, NY police department and it contained everything from a list of wanted sex offenders to detailed domestic violence complaints. A machine from the Buffalo police narcotics unit included information about targets in a major drug raid. Data culled from a construction company’s copier yielded the architectural floor-plan of a building near ground zero, and pay stubs with the names, addresses and social security numbers of employees. The fourth machine, from an insurance company, contained 300 complete medical records, including the results of blood tests, family medical histories, and cancer diagnoses.

As more and more of our sensitive data is digitized, we need to keep up with security protocols apace. Companies should be keeping careful track of every device where information is stored: computers, printers, copiers, voice mail and more. Every storage location is a potential security hazard and should be monitored, maintained and wiped clean before disposal.