Conclusion

In this chapter, I didn't intend to convince you that it is impossible to reach an appropriate security level for a system or a site located on a hosting server. I merely tried to demonstrate that this task is complicated and that the attacker has many options to achieve his or her malicious goals.

Nevertheless, in many cases, it is possible to have a secure system on a hosting server.

Much depends on the security requirements placed on the system and how secret the information stored in the system is.

For example, if the site is just your home page, contains nonsecret documents, or is a chat or a forum, the safety requirements won't be strict, and placing this site on a hosting server will be justified. However, if the site is an Internet shop, a payment system, or another system that stores private information such as the clients ' names , personal information, and credit card numbers , it wouldn't be wise to place such a system on a hosting server.

When you decide whether to place your system on a collocation or hosting server, you should make the following considerations, among others:

• The system requirements of the server resources. Some systems require so many resources that it would be impossible to place them on a hosting server.

• The scope of your businesses and the task you fulfil. The rent for a collocation server is so expensive (in comparison to the rent for disk space on a hosting server) that some enterprises can't afford it.

• The security requirements. Sometimes placing the system on a collocation server is mandatory for security.

You should also be guided by common sense.