Before you invest in web shared hosting, it's important you familiarize yourself with the most common shared security threats. While shared hosting allows entrepreneurs a cheap way to develop a Web presence, it comes with far more security risks than both VPS and dedicated hosting. The reason, of course, is because shared hosting requires sharing server space with countless other sites-sites that may or may not hurt your own.

Illegal Activities

If another site on the shared server contains illegal files or engages in some sort of illegal activity, and one of the major search engines discovers this, every site on the server, including your own, will be penalized. It seems capricious and arbitrary, and perhaps it is, but these are the rules of web hosting. It's best described by the old adage, "The people around you are a reflection of yourself."

Breach Of Confidentiality

Shared hosting security risks should be especially be a concern for business owners planning on processing online customer orders. Clients expect you to safeguard their names, addresses and phone numbers. Such information is typically stored in a MySQL database on a server. In a shared environment, the risk of a database breach is much higher, as you have 1,000s of other website owners constantly FTPing into the server.

Limited Security Protection

Shared servers come with pre-configured anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall software. You have no authority regarding which suites the provider utilizes, meaning you're stuck with whatever they think is best for you. While most providers invest in quality security software, you can't be certain. That said, be sure to question a provider about security before ever signing a shared hosting plan.

Server Crash

It takes only one bad website to crash an entire server, as well as all of the other sites on it. If another client on the server you share catches some sort of virus, you can rest assured that your site will also catch it. It's like a bout of influenza spreading throughout an entire apartment complex, jumping from one tenant to another. And there isn't anything you can do to protect yourself; you have to let the provider deal with it.

Conclusion

If shared hosting is your only option, then at least take the time to conduct proper research before selecting a hosting provider. Call the provider's sales department and ask detailed questions regarding the type of security offered. Otherwise, you could ultimately end up with a company that puts your entire business at risk.

Vivek Saxena operates IPreferQualityWebHosting, an online database of shared hosting providers, chockablock with info regarding web hosting, web hosting providers and the web hosting industry.