FTP Security

At Apollo Hosting, we work diligently to provide you, our customer, with a stable, secure hosting environment. As part of our consistent efforts to improve our offerings, we have developed a solution that will allow you to more effectively secure your FTP access. This feature is known as Enhanced FTP Security and provides FTP access control beyond the security offered by typical username and password combinations.

While complex username and password combinations are the first step at controlling access to your content, the Enhanced FTP Security feature takes security one step further.

We strongly encourage all Apollo Hosting customers to implement this feature immediately. To assist with the understanding and implementation of this security improvement, we have provided links to valuable information resources as well as answers to frequently asked questions below:

Why is this feature necessary? This Enhanced FTP Security is necessary because, quite simply, not everyone is honest. Malicious web-based activity is on the rise, globally, and those involved in that activity are persistent in their efforts to collect the private information of unsuspecting citizens or promote their own interests without "following the rules". Understanding those realities, we are proactively working to improve the hosting experience by offering you, our customer, greater control over who accesses your content. Please take the time to read the following articles discussing the global increase in malicious FTP activity:

USAToday.com - http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2008-03-31-javascript-hackers_N.htm

Darkreading.com - http://www.darkreading.com/security/perimeter/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=211201270

How does this feature work? The simplest explanation is that this feature allows you, very specifically, to determine who has access to your site via FTP – beyond the typical username and password combinations. While that capability does exist, to some degree, by providing FTP usernames and passwords for each person that needs to access your content, there are a variety of methods used to collect that login information. Once that information is known, anyone with your username and password has unlimited access to your content. With this Enhanced FTP Security, not only can you provide usernames and passwords to authorized individuals, you can configure access so that each person must login from a specific IP address. With this configuration, your FTP environment will basically ask two questions as connection attempts are made:

• Who are you (your username and password)?
• Where are you (your IP address)?

Are there any negative impacts associated with enabling this feature? No – although minimal configuration will be required within your Plesk Control Panel.

What do I need to do? If you choose to take advantage of this security enhancement, you will need to know the IP address of any application or person that routinely requires access to your FTP site. Remember, without the IP address, they will not be allowed access even if they know the username and password. In addition to individual users, please note that this includes external applications (such as Urchin or remote webcams) that periodically require access to your site, via FTP. This may sound overwhelming but it really is quite simple and takes very little time to implement.

To find your current public IP address, visit http://www.whatismyip.com/.

Is this feature enabled already? No. Enhanced FTP Security will not be enabled until you decide to do so within the Plesk Control Panel.

Can I disable this feature after it has been enabled? Absolutely. Athough we advise against doing so, the feature can be disabled from your Plesk Control Panel

Do you have instructions on how to enable this feature? We certainly do. A step by step configuration guide can be found here - http://helpdesk.apollohosting.com/kb_article.php?ref=4146-ADGN-3167

If you have questions, or would like additional information on this new feature, please contact our Technical Support staff utilizing one of the options provided below:

Web-based Help Desk: http://helpdesk.apollohosting.com

Phone: 877.525.4678, option 2

LiveChat: http://chat.apolloservers.com/phplive/request.php?l=admin&x=1&deptid=0

We sincerely appreciate the opportunity to serve you.

Best Regards,

Apollo Hosting Staff