Best Cheap Web Hosting

If you are experiencing a sluggish web browser then it could be the result of an Amazon web service outage.

An outage hit Amazon Web Services Tuesday, reportedly impacting lots of web pages. Specifically, the cloud giant is experiencing problems with its Simple Storage Service (S3) on the East Coast. Widely used for backup and archive, S3 is harnessed by a host of companies.

BEWARE GOOGLE CHROME SCAM THAT COULD INJECT MALWARE INTO YOUR COMPUTER

"We continue to experience high error rates with S3 in US-EAST-1, which is impacting various AWS services," wrote Amazon Web Services, on its service health dashboard. "We are working hard at repairing S3, believe we understand root cause, and are working on implementing what we believe will remediate the issue."

Users took to social media to discuss the outage.

BGR reports that when S3 goes down or experiences any type of latency or errors, it can prevent content from loading on web pages or cause requests to fail.

Source: Amazon web service suffers major outage, disrupts East Coast internet

One of the first big European guitar festivals and competitions of the spring, the third Zagreb Guitar Festival, will take place in Zagreb, Croatia, from March 26–April 1, and its shaping up to be quite a week of concerts, classes, competitions and other activities. As in previous editions of the festival, guitarists from all over the world will be performing and/or taking part in master classes and workshops, including Pepe Romero (Spain/U.S.), Ana Vidović (Croatia/U.S.), Carlo Marchione (Italy/Netherlands), Dušan Bogdanović (Serbia/U.S.), Brian Head (U.S.), Thomas Offermann (Germany), David Pavlovits (Hungary), festival Artistic Director Mak Grgić (Slovenia/U.S.), flamenco titan Vicente Amigo (Spain) and many others. We should note there is also an afternoon jazz and world music workshops and a "Jazz Guitar Night" concert, this time featuring New York-based (and recent Grammy Award-winner) John Scofield.

The competition features nine categories with various youth cut-off ages (and two with no age limit) for solo guitar and chamber music with guitar. There are also lectures on topics such as "Authenticity vs. Musical Language: Early Music and Historical Temperaments," "Modern Music and Social Media," and "The Competitive Guitarist"; plus daily workshops for the Zagreb Guitar Festival Orchestra; and a luthier's fair featuring guitars, music, and equipment. For more info about the festival, zagreb, accommodations, etc. check out the ZGF website.

Here are performances by three of the featured performers at this year's ZGF: Vidović, Romero and Grgić.

Source: Zagreb Hosting Big International Guitar Fest and Competition

Rick Santorum: 'Millions of Americans' with preexisting conditions are scammers stealing health care

Right-wing pundit Laura Ingraham bounced $42K check to AP trying to save her floundering website

This is what America looked like before the EPA cleaned it up

Press secretary Sean Spicer confiscating aides phones in search for White House leakers: report

WATCH: Chuck Todd calls out Trump for calling press 'fake news' every time there's a new Russia story

'Does this mean the parties are back on?' Celebrities react to Trump not attending correspondents' dinner

'I want an investigation': Father of slain SEAL blames Trump's carelessness and ego for son's death

Chris Wallace grills Corey Lewandowski: 'How many jobs' has Trump created by attacking the media?

Trump fires backs at new DNC head Tom Perez insult by calling his election 'rigged'

MSNBC guest calls for more nukes: 'We have nowhere near the ability to destroy the world'

Source: Right-wing pundit Laura Ingraham bounced $42K check to AP trying to save her floundering website

February 25, 2017

06:05 PM

A hacking crew that goes by the name of National Hackers Agency (NHA) has defaced 605 websites in one go after they managed to get access to a server from UK hosting firm DomainMonster.

The attacks, brought to Bleeping Computer's attention by a member of another hacking crew, took place on Tuesday, February 21, and were all cached via Zone-H, a service that archives defaced websites.

All defaced websites were hosted on the IP address 109.68.38.20, registered to Mesh Digital, the legal name of DomainMonster.com, a company that provides domain registration, website building, and website hosting services.

Company acknowledged hacks

The defaced websites remained online for at least a day before they were taken down. Angry customers took to Twitter, as usual [1, 2, 3].

On Twitter, the company acknowledged the attacks but gave little details about what happened. No official statement was published on its site, or one that we could find. All the websites we checked from the defaced list are now up and running.

At the time of writing, no new defacement hosted on the same server has been registered via Zone-H, meaning DomainMonster either plugged the hole, or NHA has yet to launch another attack.

Website data most likely compromised

It is unknown what kind of access the hackers gained, but since they jumped across different customer accounts, access to the underlying server was most likely achieved. Data hosted on those servers should be considered compromised, and most likely stolen since many defacers often steal and sell data on underground markets.

All defaced websites linked to NHA's Facebook page. On Friday, the page was down, most likely following a user report. NHA continued their defacements in the following days, with new attacks, this time on Russian domains. Bleeping Computer's request for comment was not returned before the Facebook page was taken down.

NHA has three members: Benjamin, GeneralEG, and R3d HaXoR. Benjamin claimed the attacks on DomainMonster, as his name was plastered atop the defacement message.

Many security experts say that website defacements are just like "digital graffiti." Usually, these attacks happen one site at a time, but sometimes one group manages to find and exploit a serious security hole.

During the past month, multiple hacking crews have used a security flaw in the WordPress CMS to deface over 1.5 million web pages, and even escalate their access enough to install backdoors and take over servers.

Source: Hacker Group Defaces Hundreds of Websites After Hacking UK Hosting Firm

Hosting Controller Announces the release of v10 of its Hybrid Automation Control Panel

1888 Press Release ­ Hosting Controller SaaS & IaaS Platform in HC10 offers on­boarding, service provisioning, billing & customer management of services both on­premises & public cloud like Office 365 (CSPs) and Amazon Web Services (AWS).Hosting Controller Inc today announced the release of version 10.0 of its automation control panel software. In this newer version, Hosting Controller Automation Suite offers on­boarding, service provisioning, billing & customer management of services both on­premises as well as in public cloud through single interface. HC SaaS and IaaS platforms offer enabling technology for service providers participating in Microsoft's CSP program or using Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure.Committed to excellence since 1998 H osting Controller is a leading provider of Windows hosting and cross platform (Windows/Linux) automation solutions and has been actively pursuing a Cloud initiative for the past six years. HC10, the latest addition to the Hosting Controller family of products is a true hybrid control panel aimed at providing a perfectly aligned solution for managing and selling Cloud and On­Premises products and extends a single pane of glass to Tier­1 Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partners for managing, selling, billing, metering and provisioning directly into Office 365."We are committed to deliver the most modern user experience to our On­premises and Cloud automation clientele and at the same time are confident that this extension to the product line will present an enabling technology to Direct and Indirect Microsoft CSP partners alike." says Syed Nauma n Hashmi Founder & CEO at Hosting Controller Inc. "Now with the launch of HC10 we also envision a rapid onboarding of not only new CSPs but also new Cloud and On­premise datacenters and service providers. We foresee a much fuller services proposition for both traditional IT shops and those offering Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS) public Clouds". He further iterated the need for expanding Hosting Controller footprint in terms of professional and value added services.HC10 also serves as a unified platform for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) delivery served off Microsoft Hyper­V and VMware ESXi hypervisors and Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS) public Clouds. With an N­tier user structure and an API focused approach, it completely transforms the way companies orchestrate their Cloud workflows and sell a fusion of Cloud,  IaaS, SaaS, Web and Microsoft Enterprise products (Exchange, Skype for Business, SharePoint and Dynamics CRM) downstream to their customer base."The technical solutions to today's business problems often involve multiple products and platforms. Service Providers can leverage their existing on­premises infrastructure while taking advantage of the flexibility and cost savings offered by Microsoft's cloud services and platforms." said Babar Zaman, VP Business Development at Hosting Controller Inc. "Our goal is to provide the required automation, provisioning tools and management to help them achieve their business goals using Microsoft products 

and services. Hosting Controller is working continuously in adding functionality to the platform, accelerating the onboarding of technologies and extending its reach globally."About Hosting ControllerFounded in 1999 and a  pioneer in Windows Automation, Hosting Controller is a premier Hybrid automation solution and is at the forefront of various On­premises and Cloud engagements. It provides a platform designed to automate all the aspects of operating a service provider business including service provisioning, billing, metering, customer management and on­boarding of new services. Service Providers can provision and manage services in public Clouds like Office 365, Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services and at the same time Direct and Indirect partners participating in Microsoft's CSP program can automate service provisioning of Office 365, Exchange, SharePoint, CRM and Azure. Hosting Controller Inc. is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and has customers in 125 countries worldwide.Hosting Controller Inc.50 Burnhamthorpe Road W. Suite 401Mississauga, ON, L5B 3C2, CanadaWeb:http ://www.hostingcontroller.comEmail: sales ( @ ) hostingcontroller dot comPhone: +1 (647) 799 1000###

Source: Hosting Controller Announces the release of v10 of its Hybrid Automation Control Panel

A lot of website builders claim to make setting up a snazzy new website easy even for non-coders. But their actual dashboards can be… confusing. Overwhelming. Too many widgets. While many of the existing builders are great for people with some familiarity with websites, we wanted to create something that was truly effortless, intuitive, and incredibly easy.

We love the tinkerers of the internet, the ones who want to build their own things from scratch. We've always been here for them, and we salute them. But our new product, Remixer, is for people who don't have the knowledge or the time to do that. Remixer is for the people who want a website fast and have never built one before: for the small business owner who really needs an internet presence, for the photographer desperate for an online portfolio, and for Aunt Sally, who's about to start a baking company but doesn't know what a plugin is. And for you. Here's how to get that snazzy website up and running before you can say "Google Analytics."

Setting Up Your Website

First things first, you'll need a DreamHost account. Head this way to sign up if you don't have one already! Next, move over to dreamhostremixer.com and sign in with the same credentials you use to sign into your DreamHost account. You'll see a page that asks you if you want to authorize Remixer to access your DreamHost account. Click "Grant Access." And you're in!

Select your theme. Scrolling through hundreds of themes can be overwhelming. Which one is perfect for you? Which one costs extra? We've given you a cool 13 themes to choose from, all of which are infinitely customizable. Whether you're looking to create a wedding website, a straightforward blog, a portfolio page advertising your services, or something else entirely, we've got an easy theme for that.

In fact, what I've been telling my team is this: don't look at these as "themes" as much as "inspiration." Pick your theme based on the style that inspires you, not on the features, because you can pick the features later. Hit "Preview Theme" to get a sense of what it will look like on your computer, phone, or tablet. (All of our themes are fully responsive.)

Play around with Chords. Once you hit "Select Theme," you'll be taken to the Editor page. This is where you can change your header, upload a background photo, and all that good stuff. We use a click-to-click editor, which means that whatever you highlight or click—whether that's the header, the body, the contact list, etc.—that's what you'll be able to change. A toolbar will pop up to help you do this.

We call these individual pieces Chords: website sections that provide either different layouts for the content or different functionalities. We have just over 70 Chords, and you can rearrange them, delete them, and customize them to totally change the look of your website—easily. Explore all our Chords in depth here.

Note that you can't change everything about your website. That's by design. If you want to customize every single part of your website, you need something like WordPress—and that's great! But there's a lot of overhead there for your average user; you have to commit to a big learning curve, to multiple weekends spent working on your website. Remixer is for the people who need to have a website up, like, tomorrow. So what may look like restrictions are actually there on purpose to benefit you, the user, and to make your experience incredibly easy and fast.

Start Remixing! As you play around with your Chords, try clicking the "Remix" button to be presented with a whole new array of options that are similar to the Chord you're currently using. "Remixing" the Chords this way shows you different layouts and options for each section. Let's say you're working on a photo gallery; "Remix" it and you'll see other options like a gallery in grayscale, or one with an image slider, or one that carousels through the images. Consider it an easy way to brainstorm.

Finding Your Content

So you have your website designed. How are you going to fill it? It's not uncommon to build a website and then freeze, feeling like you have no content to display. Click over to our Content page (in the upper right corner of Remixer) and you'll see multiple ways that you can populate your site with content. You can import years of your own social media posts (all those #foodstagram breakfast shots? Now they're website content). You can upload graphics and photos from your computer. You can grab hundreds of gorgeous royalty-free images from Pixabay. You can even import content from an old website.

Let's say you've started a small business website… and have a personal blog. We've got a tool for that, too. Our Content Groups let you tag different pieces of content for different projects, so you can easily toggle between small biz content and personal content.

Publishing Your New Site

Head over to Pages (in the upper right corner of Remixer) when you're ready to publish your site. Pages is the dashboard for all your projects; you'll be able to see all your sites at a glance here. You can launch the editor for each of these individual projects and set settings for each of them, like Google analytics, SEO, and a custom domain name. To do all this, just click on the "Settings" tab at the bottom of each individual site's icon.

At first, our "publish" button publishes your site to a staging domain—a hard-to-find temporary URL—which allows you to publish and view the actual HTML without having millions of fans swarm to your new site right away. Once you've changed your settings to point to your custom domain, hit Publish again—and you're live!

Whew. That was fast.

Want more help with Remixer? Check out our FAQs and how-to videos.

Source: How to Design a Website Without Code

News19 caught up with sports talk show host Bill Gunter who is part of the Early Game on 107.5 The Game. Bill talks spring football and the state of USC basketball with three games left in the regular season.

wltx 5:29 PM. EST February 22, 2017

Source: Web Exclusive - Talking Spring Football & USC Hoops With Bill Gunter

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has partnered with NYU's Salomon Center for the Study of Financial Institutions to host a symposium on the effects of investment crowdfunding on February 28th. The Commission's Division of Economics and Risk Analysis (DERA) is leading the dialogue and will bring together various stakeholders in the emerging online capital formation marketplace.

"We are excited to collaborate with NYU in this event focused on new sources of capital formation, and designed to bring together academics, industry participants, and the SEC," said Acting Chairman Michael Piwowar.

Regulation Crowdfunding or Reg CF is a key JOBS Act rule that went into effect on May 16, 2016. This new securities exemption allows for retail investors to be solicited on the web and through social media to purchase unregistered securities of smal l private companies. The rule also establishes a new type of intermediary – the funding portal – which is regulated by FINRA.

According to Wefunder, there have been 79 successful Reg CF offers to date raising $21.6 million. Many industry participants believe existing rules are too prescriptive and there is movement on Capitol Hill to raise the exemption to $10 million while improving various aspects.

The event is free and open to the public, and will kick off with welcoming remarks by SEC Acting Chairman Michael Piwowar at 9:15 am at the SEC's headquarters building at 100 F Street, NE.

A webcast will be available at sec.gov. For individuals wishing to attend, please register in advance and provide photo ID to the security personnel at the front desk.

Source: SEC is Hosting a "Crowdfunding Dialogue" on February 208th

Why would you spend acquiring a web hosting plan for any Ionic/Angular/Native/Desktop app backed specially by Google Firebase database or any other, when the Google Firebase Cloud Platform comes with one simple but extra ordinary feature - Google Firebase Hosting that too with an option to go with self owned domain.

It took me few minutes to configure and get started with this Wowsome! feature in the Google Firebase Console. I am sharing the steps on how to get one configured for you.

Step 1:

When on your Google Firebase Console switch to Hosting tab which lies under the left vertical navigation bar.

Step 2:

Even though you haven't yet configured any domain and this is your first time you will always see above screen with a Get Started button. Hit this button and continue for two steps.

Step 4:

When you see the above screen hit the Connect Domain button. you will be prompted to add your self owned domain name like below:

After you type in your domain name hit Continue.

Note: You also have an option on this screen to redirect your domain to an existing website which is already running and hosted elsewhere.

Step 5:

Google Firebase wants you to verify the ownership of the domain name you just added to connect. All you need to do is copy paste this record into your domain control setting (DNS) and save as below Godaddy example:

After your domain ownership is verified by Google Firebase you will be shared some settings of A record that you will need to enter into you domain control (DNS) settings as below:

Make sure you remove all existing default entires under A host or else it will not work. If you failed to do so Google will warn you with a message inside Firebase console > Hosting > Connect Domain > Message — "Google Firebase is expecting A record to be xxxx and found yyyy".

Note: Google Firebase configures behind the scenes a SSL certificate (example — https://www.mycustomdomain.com) which takes time, for me everything worked within 24 hours.

Well its time to keep your fingers crossed if all goes well and you followed me correctly you should see below screen when you hit www.mycustomdomain.com in the browser address bar:

You see above screen as there are no files to be served or not uploaded yet, to deploy please see my earlier story on Google Firebase can host your website and single page application

Source: Google Firebase Hosting & Custom Domain - The Missing Manual

If you're a beginner just starting a WordPress blog, then there's no need to get VPS hosting. A shared hosting plan will provide all the resources you need to get started. Shared hosting plans are budget-friendly and don't require a lot of technical skill to get started with.

But once your website starts growing, then you may need to upgrade your hosting.

Signs You've Outgrown Shared Hosting

Slow website – If you've done all you can to speed up WordPress, and it's still slow, then it may be time to upgrade your hosting. This is especially true if you notice your site is slower during peak traffic times.

Errors – Does your site keep going down, or do you keep getting 500 internal server errors? If troubleshooting doesn't solve the common WordPress errors, then it may be your web hosting.

Security issues – As your website grows in popularity, it becomes a more popular target for hackers as well. If your website keeps coming under attack or getting hacked, upgrading your hosting can help to keep it more secure.

VPS Hosting vs Managed WordPress Hosting

VPS and managed WordPress hosting are comparable in cost, and both offer an upgrade from shared hosting.

VPS hosting may be the right choice for you if:

You're a more technically-inclined user and don't mind managing your own server

You want more freedom and flexibility to install your own software and configure your own settings

Managed WordPress hosting may be better for you if:

You don't have the time or inclination to bother with technical details – you just want to blog or manage your website.

You don't need to set up any special software or configure your server in a nonstandard way.

Now that you've read all about VPS hosting, it's time for you to make a decision.

We run several sites that get millions of pageviews per month. We have tested and worked with all the top web hosting companies in the industry. After having helped 100,000+ users and years of experience, our founder Syed Balkhi has personally hand-picked some of the most well-reputed VPS hosting providers for you.

Each of these VPS hosting companies provide excellent service and support. We give each of them a perfect 5 out of 5 star rating. Check out the list of best VPS hosting providers.

Source: Do You Really Need a VPS? Best WordPress VPS Hosting Compared – 2017

Mapping an existing domain is not done free of charge. WordPress.COM does not accept domain transfers by mapping to an existing domain is possible. Domain mapping replaces the .wordpress.com URL with the domain URL. You must be logged in under the exact same username account that registered the .wordpress.com site to upgrade.

If you are not logged in under the correct username account then clear your browser cache https://en.support.wordpress.com/browser-issues/#clearing-your-browser-cache and cookies https://en.support.wordpress.com/browser-issues/#clearing-wordpress-com-cookies prior to logging into another account

re: purchasing upgrades

WordPress.com provides free blogs and hosts them free of charge. There are no bandwidth charges. All WordPress.com blogs come with 3000 megabytes (~3 GBs) of space for storing uploaded files and images. Free features are listed here https://en.wordpress.com/features/

We have 4 different plans: free, personal, premium and business. All hosting is free regardless of which plan you choose. You can view all wordpress.com plan features here https://wordpress.com/pricing/ Add a plan for each of your sites here: http://store.wordpress.com/plans/.

Details:There are no monthly payment plans and no bulk deal upgrades. We are billed annually. Also note that purchase orders are not accepted. We must pay for all upgrades in full at the time of purchase.

WordPress.com does not accept domain transfers but mapping an existing domain is possible. http://support.wordpress.com/domain-mapping/map-existing-domain/ The domain or mapping of any existing domain URL is included in the pricing for a personal upgrade, a premium and a business upgrade.

Premium upgrades do not include any premium themes which are all individually priced one time upgrades. The Business upgrade includes access to all premium themes but also note that there is no e-commerce capability under any plan here https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/small-business-website-1?replies=2#post-2804631.

Make sure you read the comparison very closely do you know exactly what the restrictions and limitations on WordPress.COM blogging are: http://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

Also read Important Notes Before Upgrading http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/#important-notes-before-upgrading

WordPress.com does not provide an email service for blogs on their sub domains or on custom domains. Please see these support docshttps://en.support.wordpress.com/add-email/https://en.support.wordpress.com/email-forwarding/

What domain mapping does is providing a seamless redirect to the very same content under the new domain URL when a person clicks the old URL .wordpress.com to the original content. It can take up to 72 hours for domain propagation to take place throughout the internet but it doesn't usually take that long. https://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/

You must be logged in as Admin http://en.support.wordpress.com/user-roles/#administrator under the exact same username account that registered the blog to access the blog's dashboard and purchase upgrades at > Dashboard> Store > My Upgradeshttps://en.support.wordpress.com/my-upgrades/

Your billing history will be at Dashboard > Store > Billing Historyhttps://en.support.wordpress.com/billing-history/

Your only options for payment are found here Payment Methods http://en.support.wordpress.com/payment/

WordPress.com provides a 30-day refund on all upgrades except Domain Registrations, Domain Renewals, and Guided Transfers. The refund period for Domain Registrations and Renewals is 48 hours.

Note: It takes from 1 - 2 weeks for the refund to be received.

You have to be logged in as Admin http://en.support.wordpress.com/user-roles/#administrator under the exact same username account that registered the blog to access the blog's dashboard, cancel any upgrades, claim a refund for any qualified upgrades, and disable auto-renew. Dashboard > Store > My Upgrades. You can also disable auto-renew there. http://en.support.wordpress.com/my-upgrades/#canceling-upgrades

Source: transfer domain to wordpress

Software-defined storage vendor StorPool announced on Friday that its 2016 revenue increased nearly 350 percent year-over-year, crediting its web hosting provider partners for helping it grow in the U.S. and beyond.

According to StorPool, demand for software-defined storage coupled with strategic sales has helped its worldwide installed data storage capacity reach to over 5 petabytes.

StorPool added more customers from North America and Asia and Australia in 2016. Its U.S. growth was helped along through a partnership with cloud hosting provider eApps Hosting, it says. In Asia, a hosting provider in Vietnam called vHost started working with StorPool to help solve its outage problems and increase its storage system performance.

"Last year was a clear inflection point for the software-defined storage market. Previously companies were more inclined to choose a traditional storage array; in 2016 however even bricks-and-mortar businesses started to look at SDS alternatives," Boyan Ivanov, CEO at StorPool, said in a statement. "As a result, we've been winning deals from competitors providing hybrid and all-flash solutions as well as other storage software vendors. We expect this trend to accelerate over the next couple of years."

According to research released earlier this month, the international software-defined storage market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 31.62 percent. StorPool is not the only software defined storage vendor who saw growth last year; IBM reported double-digit revenue growth in its software-defined storage in 2016 as its storage hardware declined.

In 2016, StorPool launched version 13 of its software-defined storage technology, offering native back-up and disaster recovery features for data protection as well as increased OS compatibility.

Source: Web Hosting Partners Help Software-Defined Storage Vendor StorPool Expand Reach

We've heard plenty of stories of actresses and the like not eating the day of an awards show to fit into her dress — and we've certainly seen the photos of them gorging on a burger after the ceremony — but this dumpling dilemma is on another level.

When Entertainment Weekly: The Show host Lola Ogunnaike sat down with Gordon Ramsay, he turned the tables on her and started asking her food questions. "If I had to go back home now and look inside your fridge, what would be the first thing that jumps out?" the Masterchef professor asked.

"Chicken dumplings," she said with minimal hesitation. "I went to the SAG Awards things weekend — humblebrag — and I had dumplings that I put in to eat that night but then I was like, 'I can't eat these dumplings and fit in my dress,' so I didn't eat the dumplings."

It was then revealed that Ogunnaike picked up the dumplings during the event. "The next time I see you at an awards ceremony, I'm going to tell the caterers to hide the food," joked Ramsay. "You take the food home…"

"In a little clutch," Ogunnaike interjected. "No one has to know."

See what Ramsay had to say about how he'd handle his last meal if he were a death row inmate below.

Catch the full episode of Entertainment Weekly: The Show, available now, on the new People/Entertainment Weekly Network (PEN). Go to PEOPLE.com/PEN, or download the free app on your Smart TV, mobile and web devices.

Source: Watch Gordon Ramsay dumpling-shame the host of EW: The Show

Shared web hosting plans are extremely popular among WordPress users. Despite being so popular, few people understand the difference between shared hosting and other plans such as dedicated hosting, VPS hosting, and so on.

Before you sign up for any of these plans, it's important to first understand what is shared web hosting and how it differs from other hosting plans.

Here are the 5 most important things you need to know about shared web hosting plans.

Shared Web Hosting Plans: 5 Things You Need to Know

Shared web hosting is when multiple sites share the same server. This allows web hosting companies to provide the service at affordable rates because multiple sites are being hosted on the same large server.

There is a huge cost advantage with shared web hosting because the maintenance fee for the server is shared by thousands of websites. The hosting fee can be anywhere between $1.99 to $14.95. On special occasions, you may enjoy a good discount rate on any of these plans.

Most shared WordPress web hosting comes with easy to use admin panel like cPanel, Fantastico, etc.

Compared to dedicated servers, you will notice a relatively slower server response time on shared web hosting servers.

Reputation of the web hosting company plays a key role in factors such as downtime, lagging, etc. A few web hosting companies tend to get greedy and oversell the service to an extent, causing frequent downtimes.

So now that we have a basic understanding of shared web hosting plans, let's examine some of the best shared web hosting plans you can opt for. Our focus in this article will be shared hosting plans for WordPress because it's by far the most popular CMS in the market, powering over 25% of the websites on the internet.

So without further ado, here are the 5 best shared web hosting plans for WordPress.

5 Best Shared Web Hosting Plans for WordPress

When it comes to WordPress, all other hosting plans are second to BlueHost. This is because BlueHost is officially endorsed by WordPress as the preferred hosting partner for their CMS.

With BlueHost, you never have to worry about downtimes or site speed. The customer service team is available 24/7 via phone, email, and live chat. Hands down, BlueHost is the most reliable and secure web hosting provider for WordPress sites.

Shared web hosting plans at BlueHost start from $3.95/month.

Visit BlueHost

Think what you may of the eccentric founder of GoDaddy, the fact remains that it is one of the best web hosting companies in the market.

GoDaddy's shared hosting plans start from $4.99/month and their customer service is just as good as BlueHost.

On the downside, you may have to experience downtimes from time to time.

Visit GoDaddy

While not as popular as the first two plans in this list, Namecheap is quickly garnering a reputation of a web hosting company which is reliable, affordable, and trustworthy.

The hosting plans at Namecheap also come with a 14-day money back guarantee which means if you're not satisfied with their hosting service in the first 14 days, you are entitled for a refund. No questions asked.

Visit Namecheap

Started in 1998, iPage powers over 1 million websites, and it offers some really good shared web hosting plans which are ideal for WordPress sites.

With 24/7 support, 99.9% uptime, and 1-click WordPress install, iPage is a good place to start for your WordPress website.

Shared web hosting plans at iPage start from $1.99/month.

Visit iPage

HostGator also offers affordable shared web hosting for WordPress sites. Despite being a popular choice, there are several complaints about HostGator's customer service on review sites such as G2Crowd. This is perhaps the reason why they are addressing this issue in their current ad campaigns. Regardless, I'd urge you to check the reviews on G2Crowd before signing up for any of their plans.

Visit HostGator

Conclusion

While there are several other brands which offer shared web hosting plans for WordPress, these are top 5 we recommend you try.

Did we miss out on any of your favorite web hosting brands? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

Recommended Reading

Source: 5 Best Shared Web Hosting Plans for WordPress

On the call, President and Chief Executive Officer Kim Ann Mink and Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Han Kieftenbeld will discuss Innophos' financial results, as well as the Company's business outlook and strategy.

Those who wish to listen to the conference call webcast should visit the "Investors" section of the Company's website at www.innophos.com where the presentation can also be found. The live call also can be accessed by dialing (800) 708-4539 (U.S.) or (847) 619-6396 (international) and entering passcode 44140578.

If you are unable to listen to the live call, the webcast will be archived on the Company's website. In addition, a telephone replay will be available between 11:30 am ET on February 22 and 12 pm ET on March 8, 2017. The replay is accessible by dialing 1-888-843-7419 (U.S.) or 1-630-652-3042 (international) and entering passcode 4414 0578#.

About Innophos Innophos is a leading international producer of specialty ingredient solutions that deliver far-reaching, versatile benefits for the food, health, nutrition and industrial markets. We leverage our expertise in the science and technology of blending and formulating phosphate, mineral and botanical based ingredients to help our customers offer products that are tasty, healthy, nutritious and economical. Headquartered in Cranbury, New Jersey, Innophos has manufacturing operations across the United States, in Canada, Mexico and China. For more information, please visit www.innophos.com. 'IPHS-G'

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/innophos-to-host-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2016-financial-results-conference-call-on-february-22-300407415.html

SOURCE Innophos Holdings, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.innophos.com

Source: Innophos To Host Fourth Quarter And Full Year 2016 Financial Results Conference Call On February 22

A vigilante hacker associated with Anonymous managed to take down twenty percent of the dark web last week.

Josie Wales, The AntiMediaWaking Times Media

A vigilante hacker associated with Anonymous managed to take down twenty percent of the dark web last week after discovering that large amounts of child pornography were being hosted by one provider. Visitors to more than 10,000 sites hosted by Freedom Hosting II were met with an error message explaining why the site was taken down.

According to an article by dark web researcher Sarah Jamie Lewis, "Freedom Hosting II (FHII) is one of the largest onion web hosting providers – offering free space and bandwidth to anyone who signs up for an account."

The hacker told Motherboard they originally gained access to the web hosting provider on January 30th, stating, "Initially I didn't want to take down FH2, just look through it." According to Motherboard, "they then allegedly found several large child pornography sites which were using more than Freedom Hosting II's stated allowance. Usually, Freedom Hosting II has a quota of 256MB per site, but these illegal sites comprised of gigabytes of material, the hacker claimed.

'This suggests they paid for hosting and the admin knew of those sites. That's when I decided to take it down instead,' the hacker said. At the time of writing, the hacker claims to have found 10 child pornography sites with approximately 30GB of files."

The original Freedom Hosting site was targeted by Anonymous for hosting child pornography and was eventually taken over by the FBI. The alleged owner of the site, Eric Eoin Marques, was taken into custody in Ireland in 2013 after being named the world's "largest facilitator of child porn." He faces extradition to the United States.

Included in the error message from last week's hack was a link to the 21-step process showing how the hacker took over the site, as well as a dump of system files. The hacker explained user data was not dumped to prevent the child pornography from being shared, but that "he will provide a copy to a security researcher who will then hand it to law enforcement."

"This is in fact my first hack ever," the hacker revealed. "I just had the right idea."

Not bad for their first time.

This article (First Time Hacker Shut Down 20% of Dark Web in Fight Against Child Porn) was originally created and published by The Anti-Media and is re-posted here with permission. 

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Source: First Time Hacker Shut Down 20% of Dark Web in Fight Against Child Porn

DreamHost has launched its new website builder, Remixer, which it is offering for free with any DreamHost hosting plan, and for free with domain registration purchases for a limited time.

After hearing from customers that existing website building platforms were not as easy to use as promised, DreamHost started working on Remixer, which its software developers built in-house using Kubernetes running on top of DreamHost's OpenStack cloud product.

"A short while ago we noticed a strange trend among a significant number of our customers," Ralph Castro, Remixer product manager said in a blog post. "Many of them would sign up for hosting service, but would never upload any content to their domains. For many users, building a website is just too intimidating. Even WordPress, as powerful as it is, can be a daunting experience for a new user."

SEE ALSO: New 451 Research Report Highlights Growing Demand for Bundled Cloud, Hosting Services

Remixer offers more than 12 professional themes and over 70 optimized content layouts to match customer's content goals, DreamHost said. Remixer supports embeddable media platforms like YouTube, Vimeo and SoundCloud. It also offers hundreds of thousands of free graphics and images.

"Our web hosting customers kept saying it: creating an engaging, customizable website is still too much of a challenge to get up and running – existing platforms are still too complex," Castro said in a statement. "It became clear that there was a need for a website builder that was not only fast and a piece of cake to use, but that also gave users control over the information they share and how they share it. We're eager to help anyone get their businesses and ideas online, and we're confident Remixer will do just that. We are really looking forward to seeing what people create with Remixer, and we're excited to support it with continued feature improvements and upgrades already planned well into the future!"

Source: DreamHost Debuts House-Made Website Builder Remixer

Costa Mesa City Councilman Allan Mansoor is suing an unnamed party in federal court, claiming his personal website was taken over after he failed to renew the domain name registration and it has since been converted into reviews of pornographic movies.

In the suit filed Wednesday, Mansoor claims his internet domain name, AllanMansoor.com, was "hijacked" and repurposed as a website to advertise pornography, according to his complaint.

"We're just trying to get to the bottom of this and trying to get my website back," Manssor said.

The defendant added the title "Allan's Adult Reviews: Best Porn Site" to the domain name, the complaint says. Paired with each review is a "Join for just $1" subscription tab. Mansoor said in his complaint that he believes the defendants are compensated by porn websites each time someone views a review or clicks the join tab.

Mansoor is seeking damages and the transfer of the domain name. The complaint states Mansoor believes the defendants are "familiar to him and live in Orange County" and could be acting on behalf of someone.

The website was originally used for political purposes from 2002 through 2016, when an unknown party acquired the domain name and used it to disparage Mansoor, the suit says.

"Defendants acted in bad faith by appropriating the domain name to operate a website titled 'Allan's Adult Reviews' with the intent of disparaging Plaintiff's good name, embarrassing him, and profiting from his goodwill by diverting people from Plaintiff's website," the suit states.

Mansoor failed to renew the domain registration in 2015, causing it to expire. He said in his complaint that he thinks the first published review on the converted site occurred in January 2016.

The content displayed on Mansoor's site is not found anywhere else on the web, the suit said, leading him to believe his website was specifically chosen to host the reviews.

Mansoor was elected to the City Council last year after serving a stint in the state Assembly and on the Costa Mesa City Council from 2002 to 2010, gaining national attention for his tough stance on illegal immigration.

"Each of plaintiff's political campaigns was contentiously fought, and in more than 12 years of holding public office, as well as in his prior career as an Orange County sheriff's deputy, he has been outspoken on many controversial public issues," Morgan wrote. "While plaintiff has many supporters, he also has many detractors. There are many people, known and unknown, who would like to embarrass him as retribution for his public actions."

Contact the writer: 714-796-2478 or lcasiano@scng.com

Source: Costa Mesa councilman sues over personal website converted to host porn reviews

More than 10,000 sites on the "dark web" was taken down last week by a hacker claiming to be affiliated with hacking collective Anonymous.

Someone claiming to be affiliated with Anonymous compromised a private web hosting service last week, taking down more than 10,000 sites on the highly encrypted "dark web," security researchers said.

As NBC News reports, the hacker or hackers broke into the hidden web hosting service Freedom Hosting II, claiming to have harvested all of the sites' files and its database, totaling almost 80 gigabytes of material.

"Dark web" is the term used to describe the networks of private sites that exist on the same public internet you use at home and at work but that are accessible only through special software or access configurations. 

Sites on the dark web are often used for legitimate, even laudable, purposes, such as protecting political and social activists' communications from opponents and repressive governments. But such sites are also often used — in back-alley locations that make up what is sometimes called "darknet" — to shield illegal activities from law enforcement, particularly black markets in weapons, drugs and child pornography.

Published at 8:26 PM EST on Feb 6, 2017 | Updated at 1:07 AM EST on Feb 7, 2017

Source: Hackers Take Down Thousands of 'Dark Web' Sites, Post Private Data

Shopify, the Canadian SaaS company that helps merchants create online stores, has found itself in the middle of some controversy involving a customer south of the border.

In an open letter published to Medium on Wednesday, Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke defended the company's decision to continue providing services to the online store for Breitbart, a controversial right-wing website. The company has received more than 10,000 messages asking it to fire Breitbart as a customer.

"The reasons we are continuing to host them are nuanced and require thought. It would be easy to kick off merchants we don't like, and doing so would actually make our lives significantly easier," he said.

"To kick off a merchant is to censor ideas and interfere with the free exchange of products at the core of commerce. When we kick off a merchant, we're asserting our own moral code as the superior one," he said. "But who gets to define that moral code? Where would it begin and end? Who gets to decide what can be sold and what can't? If we start blocking out voices, we would fall short of our goals as a company to make commerce better for everyone. Instead, we would have a biased and diminished platform."

"Instead of imposing our own morality on the platform, we defer to the law. All products must be legal in the jurisdiction of the business," Lütke said.

In the post, Lütke reiterated Shopify's role as a service provider, meaning that although it provides a service to a customer, it does not necessarily reflect the company's own views or values. Shopify has more than 10 percent of the overall e-commerce platform market.

"We offer a software service in the form of an ecommerce platform which hundreds of thousands of businesses and entrepreneurs use to sell millions of products online. We are a service provider. We do not, and will not, refuse the Shopify service to anyone based on their political views, sexual orientation, ethnicity, etc. Doing so could set a dangerous precedent of exclusion," he said.

Web hosting companies and internet services providers of all types have had to answer similar questions in the past.

Back in 2013, Breitbart senior editor Milo Yiannopoulos was working as editor-in-chief of U.K. tech blog The Kernel when he published a report accusing Cloudflare of being "terrorists' little helper" for its refusal to stop providing services to a Chechen news agency. In 2014, Cloudflare launched a project to help protect public interest sites at-risk of being targeted by DDoS attacks.

"As part of that mission, we strongly believe that bullies should not be able to knock sites offline simply because they disagree with their content," Cloudflare says on its website.

Source: Shopify CEO Defends Right to Host Controversial Client Breitbart

Sun-News Reports , . 2:52 p.m. MT Feb. 8, 2017

SILVER CITY — The Small Business Development Center at Western New Mexico University is hosting series of four workshops for small businesses focused on digital media.

The workshops are designed to educate area business owners and non-profit organizations on how to grow their businesses through effective online marketing, branding and customer service tools.

"The question today is not whether to be online, or to have a well done website," said Lawrence Garcia, Small Business Development Center business advisor. "The real question is how far can you go in your online marketing journey."

Wednesday, February 15

Marketing Your Brand for Success (Part 1) with Sabrina Pack

5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m., Student Memorial Center 3rd floor seminar room

Wednesday, February 22

Marketing Your Brand for Success (Part 2) with Sabrina Pack

5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m., Student Memorial Center 3r floor seminar room

Wednesday, March 1

Optimizing Your Online Presence with Eric Spellman

3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m., Student Memorial Center 3rd floor seminar room

Wednesday, March 8

Building Connections through Social Media with Abe Villarreal

3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Global Resource Center ABC room

Registration to attend each workshop is $10 per person. For more information, contact the Small Business Development Center at 575-538-6164.

Read or Share this story: http://scsun.co/2k4tF9n

Source: WNMU is hosting a series of workshops for small businesses

Details Written by Webmaster Category: Web Hosting Published: 07 February 2017 Hits: 5

Picking a good web hosting company is important to keeping your website open and your costs down. There are many to choose from, as well as different pricing plans to look over. Depending on the amount of sites that you intend on building, you may want to consider a larger web space in the long run.

You should start with the smallest web space that you can get to test the waters, just incase niche website Internet marketing does not work out for you. You may want to add on later, so make sure that your provider offers that option.

You will want to choose a provider that has a reliable service. If your site is down or takes to long to open up when visitors are trying to get in, it may lead them to click out of your site and move on to the next one. They will also more than likely not visit in the future since they will remember their bad experience. For this reason, it is probably best to stick with a well known company who you can check reliable references on. There are many small hosting providers that offer space for as low as $.50 to $1 per month, however, you never know what you will be getting and many of them want you to pay for at least a years worth in advance.

You will also want one that has the most affordable hosting. If you can create your own small site or have one made for you, then you will probably be able to find space for as low as $3 to $4 per month. However, if you need to choose a company that offers a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) website builder, then you will probably end up paying $10 to $15 per month for the smallest amount of space. But if this is the only way that you can build a site, then it is necessary.

Some web hosting providers may also offer a deal on a yearly URL or other products when you make a web hosting purchase.

Ultimately, whatever web hosting provider you choose will depend on your individual needs and what you can afford. Hopefully you will be able to snap up a well known provider at a low price who will allow you to upgrade your service as needed.

Source: How to select a good web hosting company for your business?

An Anonymous hacker claims they took down 10,000+ dark web sites because they many of them were hosting child abuse material and other harmful content.

On 3 February, visitors to 10,613 dark web sites running on Freedom Hosting II came across a message indicating someone had hacked the hosting provider. The message explains that hackers associated with Anonymous copied and downloaded 74 GB worth of files as well as a database dump of 2.3 GB. Anonymous then created torrents to the files (excluding user data) and to the database dump.

It all started when a single hacker acquired read access to Freedom Hosting II, which is believed to host as much as a fifth of all dark web sites, on 30 January.

It was their "first hack ever," and they only intended to see what Freedom Hosting II was powering. But the hacker's motivation changed when they saw numerous websites not only hosting child abuse material but also consuming more than the 256 MB of space freely allotted by Freedom Hosting II. (They were using gigabytes of material.)

The hackers also found that some of the sites were hosting scams, botnets, fraud, and/or hacked data.

As the hacker told Vice:

"This suggests they paid for hosting and the admin knew of those sites. That's when I decided to take it down instead."

The hacker used a 21-step process to pull off the attack. It involved messing with the configuration settings of a new or already existing Freedom Hosting II site and then triggering a password reset. The hacker then turned on root access before logging back in.

Anonymous, which for years has been opposed to dark web sites hosting child abuse material, provided the leaked files to Troy Hunt of Have I Been Pwned.

Hunt found that the files contain 381,000 users' email details. Some of those credentials he has already documented in his data breach search service.

All of this information will no doubt end up in the hands of the FBI at some point.

To be sure, the Bureau will be glad to hear the sites are no longer functioning. However, with the sites shut down, the FBI won't be able to infiltrate them and gather intelligence on members by deploying their own crafted spyware. This means that users whose credentials aren't included among the list of 381,000 login details could flock to another dark web site hosting equally harmful content.

Originally, the hacker demanded approximately US $200 from Freedom Hosting II for the return of their data. The hosting provider made two Bitcoin payments to the extortionist's wallet. Even so, the hacker decided to release the information anyway.

This takedown no doubt advances the fight against child abuse material hosted online. Let's hope it leads to some arrests, too.

About the author, David Bisson David Bisson is an infosec news junkie and security journalist. He works as Contributing Editor for Graham Cluley Security News, Associate Editor for Tripwire's "The State of Security" blog, Contributing Author to Carbonite, and Content Contributor to Metacompliance Ltd. and OASIS Open.

Follow @DMBisson

Interested in being a guest contributor to this site like David Bisson? Check out our contributor guidelines.
Source: Anonymous hacker took down 10,000+ dark web sites, including child abuse content

Dark Web is right now going through a very rough time.

Just two days ago, a hacker group affiliated with Anonymous broke into the servers of Freedom Hosting II and took down more than 10,000 Tor-based .onion dark websites with an alarming announcement to its visitors, which said:

"Hello, Freedom Hosting II, you have been hacked."

Freedom Hosting II is the single largest host of underground websites accessible only through Tor anonymising browser that hosts somewhere between 15 and 20 percent of all sites on the Dark Web, anonymity and privacy researcher Sarah Jamie Lewis estimated.Besides defacing all Dark Web sites hosted on Freedom Hosting II with the same message and stealing its database, the hackers also demanded a ransom for 0.1 Bitcoin (just over $100) to return the compromised data to the hosting service.

Now, it has been reported that the stolen database from Freedom Hosting II has publicly been released online to a site hosted on the Tor network, which includes the email details of nearly 381,000 users, 'Have I Been Pwned' tweeted.

According to the Anonymous hackers, more than 50 percent of all files hosted on Freedom Hosting II servers were related to child pornography.

Those illegal websites were using gigabytes of data when Freedom Hosting II officially allows no more than 256MB per site, the Anonymous hacker claimed.

In addition to dark sites user details, the data dump also contains backups of website database, most of which are based on popular, free, open source content management systems and forums like WordPress and PHPBB.In an interview with Motherboard, an Anonymous hacker who claimed responsibility for the hack said this was his first hack ever, and he never intended to take down the hosting provider.

But when he allegedly discovered several large child pornography websites using more than Freedom Hosting II's stated allowance, he decided to take down the service. The hacker claimed to have downloaded 74GB of files and a users database dump of 2.3GB.

Lewis has been analyzing the leaked data and reported that the database contains Dark Web users' numerous plain text emails, usernames, and hashed passwords from forum websites hosted by Freedom Hosting II.

While it's bad news for users who joined one of those forums providing their genuine personal details, law enforcement would be happy, as in a separate case, the FBI used location-tracking malware to infiltrate Dark Web porn sites and track individual users.

Source: Anonymous Hacker took down over 10,000 Dark Web Sites; Leaked User Database

Update — the database has now been leaked and my ongoing analysis can be found over here

Compromise

Earlier today a Reddit user running a dark web crawler reported that all websites hosted by Freedom Hosting II had been compromised and were now displaying the following message:

Hello Freedom Hosting II, you have been hacked

We are disappointed… This is an excerpt from your front page 'We have a zero tolerance policy to child pornography.' — but what we found while searching through your server is more than 50% child porn…

Moreover you host many scam sites, some of which are evidently run by yourself to cover hosting expenses.

All your files have been copied and your database has been dumped. (74GB of files and 2.3GB of database)

We are selling all data (excluding cp) for 0.1 BTC. Send 0.1 BTC to 14iCDyeCSp12AmhVfJGxtrzXDabFop4QtU and send your transaction id to fhosting@tt3j2x4k5ycaa5zt.onion or fhosting@danwin1210.me and We'll get back to you with a full dump.

Up to January 31st you were hosting 10613 sites. Private keys are included in the dump. Show full list

We are Anonymous. We do not forgive. We do not forget. You should have expected us.

Update

As of approximately 17:00 GMT the landing page has been updated to say:

Thanks for your patience, you don't have to buy data ;) we made a torrent of the database dump download here

You may still donate BTC to 14iCDyeCSp12AmhVfJGxtrzXDabFop4QtU and support us.

If you need to get in contact with us, our mail is fhosting@sigaint.org

Verification

Privacy researcher Sarah Jamie Lewis used a customised 'onion scan' tool in October last year and found that Freedom Hosting II represented 15-20% of active onion sites detected based on matching SSH fingerprints.

The hack appears to be genuine. Not only are the tested hosted sites compromised, the main customer portal is already compromised, as this too is displaying the same message. fhostingesps6bly.onion was one of the primary onion addresses of Freedom Hosting II, the un-hacked version can be seen via this archived capture.

Freedom Hosting II portal — when it was working

The Bitcoin address listed by the anonymous hackers 14iCDyeCSp12AmhVfJGxtrzXDabFop4QtU at the time of writing has not received any payments. Selling access to hacked data rather than giving it away is not typical behaviour for Anonymous.

Brand legacy and follow up

Freedom Hosting II is the brand successor to the original Freedom Hosting, formally run by Irishman Eoin Marques, similarly notorious for hosting child pornography and fraud sites.

The original Freedom Hosting was taken down by the FBI in conjunction with a JavaScript 0-day attack on its users back in 2013. It is reasonable to except that law enforcement will be highly interested in the hacked data as it must intersect with operations against the worst of the worst sites under active investigations. In many cases this will mean bringing investigations to a premature close with some suspects evading justice, but in other cases providing a wealth of data on serious criminal operations.

Update — the database has now been leaked and my ongoing analysis can be found over here

Source: Dark web's largest host 'Freedom Hosting II' hacked by Anonymous

A website called "Should Calgary Bid?" has been launched in order to update residents on the city's potential plans to host the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, listing areas of exploration including social development, economic opportunity, cost and risk.

READ MORE: Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi says city's study of Olympic bid on track

A lot has changed since 1988, but most of the venues built for those Olympics are still standing and could be used again, such as the Olympic Oval, which has some of the fastest ice in the world almost 30 years later.

"A lot of the existing venues are in good shape," said Calgary's former police chief Rick Hanson, who is heading the bid exploration committee.

"Will they need some modifications? Some of them will. Others might need more work done than others."

Off the ice, the Oval is showing its age: the sight lines and seats could use a face lift. But other than those upgrades plus new ski jumps and a second arena, Calgary may be in a position to host again without having to buy other new venues.

"The benefit that will be derived from this can hopefully be monetized on one hand and be clearly evident to the people who have to make the decisions," he said.

Watch below from Dec. 21, 2016: Speaking in Calgary, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he looks forward to more discussion about a Calgary Olympic bid.

Three decades ago, the Games cost about $1 billion. In 2026, that could be the cost just to secure them. Some have pegged the total price tag at $5.3 billion–less than the $7.7 billion spent on Vancouver in 2010.

No provincial or federal funding has been promised as of yet.

"One of the things that we're very much aware of is the cost-overrun issue," Hanson said.

Watch below: On June 20, 2016, Kevin Smith spoke with young athletes who are dreaming of competing in a 2026 Calgary Olympics amid reports of a proposal put forward at city council.

At a press conference Thursday, Mayor Naheed Nenshi said most of the $5 million granted by city council for Olympic exploration work will go towards creating a "hosting plan."

"The hosting plan is very useful even if we choose not to bid on the Olympics, because it gives us a real sense of the city's ability to host very large-scale events in terms of: what hotel rooms do we have? What transportation networks do we have? As well as what facilities can fit modern standards, from conventions to sporting events?

"I understand they are certainly looking at coming in at or below their budget by the time they get here in July and resources are really focused on creating that content."

After the recommendation is presented in July, council will then decide on whether to move forward with a formal bid, which is required sometime next year.

While Hanson is looking at the prospects with enthusiasm, his focus is on being objective.

"We need to answer the question: why would we? What's the net benefit to Calgary, Alberta and Canada?"

With files from Erika Tucker

Source: Calgary launches 2026 Olympic exploration bid website; milliondollar hosting plan underway

WEBMASTER/WEB ANALYST - BNL Technical Services, LLC - Roadtechs.com Nuclear Job Board  

Posted by: BNL Technical Services, LLC <resume@bnltech.com> on February 02, 2017 at 13:42:51. Click here to reply to this post via Email.

Contract / Temp to Direct / Direct Hire: ContractCity: RichlandState: WashingtonCountry: United StatesZip or Postal Code: 99354

Only Resumes submitted in WORD FORMAT will be accepted - Resume@Bnltech.com

WEBMASTER/WEB ANALYST

CONTRACTOR/MSA #297071

CLOSING DATE: 2/14/2017

DESCRIPTION OF WORK SPECIFIC:

Webmaster/ Web Analyst will be responsible for webmaster responsibilities to ensure enterprise level configuration management, availability and security of production web content and supporting development and test sites as well as supporting the Hanford's enterprise web hosting environment and supporting infrastructure to ensure enterprise level performance, availability and security.

This includes working with IT professionals on various infrastructure components, systems and servers supporting hundreds of Hanford applications and systems. Including but not limited to:

1. Act as focal point for uploading new content to websites that require a separation of duties between developer and production websites2. Provide interface for performance issues with developers and web analysts3. Review statistics and monitor analytics4. Ensure websites adhere to web governance and standards5. Tier-3 troubleshooting support, working with the user support team and the operations staff to effectively manage and communicate issues and perform problem analysis to resolution on a 24/7 schedule. As such, leads problem-solving efforts often involving outside vendors and other support personnel and/or organizations.6. Additionally, the analyst will assist senior Web analysts in the performance of their duties which include:7. Manages the day-to-day technical operations and product management, monitoring system performance, configuration, maintenance and repair.8. Manage integration with other systems, capacity planning, system-wide operation control, task automation an d providing recommendations on innovative and/or cost-effective options for delivering and/or improving enterprise web hosting services.9. Apply revisions, upgrades, and patches to enterprise web host software.10. Develop new system implementation plans, custom scripts and testing procedures to ensure operational reliability, high availability and system security of enterprise web services.11. Establishes guidelines and methods for the installation and management of the host environment and client tools.12. Develops procedures and documentation for backup and restoration of host operating systems and host-based applications and Disaster Recover/ Continuity of Operations (DR/COOP) capabilities.13. Develops tools, procedures, and training sessions for operations and other customer support organizations.14. Stays current with technological developments and provide recommendations on how to take advantage of new advancements.15. Identifies methods, solutions, and provides project leader ship and management in order to provide a high level of service to customers.16. Ensure system security across enterprise web application services, including contribution to security best practices.17. Advise management of developments in the industry or on the Hanford Site that could affect the web environment, projects and client relations.18. Maintain and follow all MSA policies, procedures and guidelines.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Technical Skills:1. Familiarity with configuration and management of Internet Information Services (IIS) versions 7.0 and above.2. Attention to detail and strong configuration management skills.3. Demonstrated ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously and effectively prioritize and execute tasks in a high-pressure environment.4. Experience with successfully resolving complex issues within a moderate to large web environment.5. Knowledge of industry best practices.6. Highly self-motivated with a keen attention to detail.

Desired Skills:MSA would prefer an Analyst that has prior experience in performing Web and Webmaster duties, with skills that are relative to the Hanford configuration and future plans, including:

1. Knowledge and experience with Cold-fusion.2. Knowledge and experience with website metrics and analytics.3. Knowledge and experience with Certificate Authority and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).4. Experience with UNIX/Linux platforms.5. Hanford Local Area Network (HLAN) enterprise desktop and server environment, specifically HLAN web server environment.Knowledge of MSA and Hanford Site policies, procedures, and processes.6. Appropriate Technical certifications.

Management and Work Skills:The Analyst provided shall have proven ability to effectively prioritize and execute tasks in a high-pressure environment and the ability to interact effectively and professionally with all levels of management, employees and customers by email, phone and in person. The individual shall have the knowledge, skills and ability to communicate technical/complex information both verbally and in writing. The Analyst position requires an attention to details and strong analytical and problem solving skills. The individual shall be able to provide support during non-standard business hours and be on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as needed or as scheduled.

Formal Education and Certification:1. BA/BS degree with Information Technology experience or equivalent combination of education and experience.

Please submit a resume in Word format to resume@bnltech.com and include in the subject line: WEBMASTER/WEB ANALYST 297071.

BNL Technical Services, LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer

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Source: WEBMASTER/WEB ANALYST

Online security breaches and e-commerce website hacks have been a common theme in mainstream media for the past several months.

From the Dyn attack that took place in October to the alleged foreign hacking of the U.S. election that's been uncovered in the past few weeks, the tail end of 2016 has been rife with reminders of how vulnerable our online world truly is.

Here's how to protect your e-commerce website.

If you're a website owner, the increased threats we've seen to online security are probably particularly troublesome as you map out your website strategy for 2017.

Fortunately, there are several simple ways you can increase your site's security to significantly decrease the chances it will fall victim to a cyber-attack in the New Year.

1. Invest in a secure hosting service

Website owners often underestimate the importance of the decision they have to make regarding which web hosting service will support their websites. Although it can be tempting to go with the cheapest option, there are several key details you need to look for in a hosting service beyond the price. Security is arguably the most important of these details.

Your hosting service must provide a secure platform that not only keeps hackers away from your site, but also has the proper backup systems in place to get your site back up and running quickly should a security breach occur.

A secure web host provides a high uptime guarantee, a secure data center, sufficient backup programs, RAID data protection, and manual reboot. Check with your current hosting provider to ensure their service provides each of these details. If not, it might be time to a more secure hosting platform.

PC Mag offers a guide to the top web hosting service providers for 2017 if you need a little help narrowing down your choices.

2. Encourage users to protect their information

One of the most vulnerable points of a website is its login portals. Once a hacker has access to admin information or a consumer login, they can do quite a bit of damage. This is why it's important to ensure that your site users are doing their part to keep your site secure as well.

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Obviously, keeping a close eye on who has admin access to your site and how they handle their login information will be important, but you'll also want to make sure consumers who visit your site and create logins are being cautious as well.

You can either automate this or send reminders, but automating this process so that your system requires users to change their passwords every couple months or so will undoubtedly be more effective.

You should also require secure passwords for all login credentials on your site. Be sure that each password for your site is a minimum of 8 characters and has at least a number, a symbol, a lower case letter, and an upper case letter.

As for your site admins, they should be certain to be even more careful with the way they handle their login information to your site as they actually have access to the CMS. Be sure to go over the essential steps your employees should take to keep their login information safe.

3. Update your e-commerce website to SSL/TLS

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. TLS stands for Transport Layer Security. These are important security protocols every site should employ to secure their sites against hackers looking to intercept sensitive information as it is transported from the site to a server or another application.

SSL and TLS encrypt data between applications and servers to be sure that the information being processed remains secure as it is sent across an insecure network

If you're not sure whether or not your site has an integrated SSL certificate, you can start by using an SSL checker.

If it turns out your site does not have one, you will need to upgrade it to make sure you have SSL or TSL protocols protecting your site.

Google offers a guide for site owners that shows how this process works.

4. Don't store customer data you don't need

This is pretty simple: if you don't need to store customer information, don't!

To avoid the additional headache of consumer liability issues in the event of a hack, don't store sensitive information if you don't have to. Obviously, this will be a bit tricky for subscription-based sites, but most sites should try to avoid storing payment information or personal identification information.

By keeping sensitive information off of your site, you can more easily protect your consumers should your site be hacked.

5. Run site vulnerability tests

Identifying potential vulnerabilities on your site on a regular basis will help you maintain a secure site with as few points of entry as possible.

One of the best ways to make sure you keep up on vulnerability testing is to set up an automated process using scanning software. The right programs will scan your network and website to identify risks and generate prioritized lists that tell you which issues should be addressed and how you should go about fixing them.

Some systems are even capable of automating the process of fixing the issues identified in the scan on their own.

If you're not familiar with how vulnerability scanning works, check out a few free programs first to get started.

6. Encrypt operational communications

Encryption is key not only to protecting your site via SSL/TSL protocols, but it's also an important precaution you should take to secure any other online communications your company has.

For an e-commerce website, you should start by encrypting all emails between your company and its vendors – especially your credit card processor. Any information that might interest online thieves should be sent through an encrypted email, not a plain text email that could be easily accessed.

Windows IT Pro provides a pretty thorough write up to help guide you through the process of encrypting your emails.

Managing an e-commerce website in this age of online uncertainty can be a bit scary at times, but with the right tactics, you can significantly decrease your site's chances of getting hacked.

Hopefully, these tips will help you secure your site for a safe and successful 2017!

Have any e-commerce safety tips you'd like to share? Let us know in the comments section below.

Author: Cosette Jarrett

Cosette is a digital lifestyle expert and freelance writer located in SLC. She is currently contributing to several major tech and lifestyle blogs, helping her readers discover new tech tools and gadgets for ease and efficiency at work and on the go.… View full profile ›

Source: 6 Tips To Secure Your Ecommerce Website