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RickP
Posts: 665
Joined: 11/13/2004
From: Kent, U.K.
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Serious privacy and data issue - please comment! - 6/28/2008 10:07:18
I am currently 'shopping around' for a good multisite hosting package. I thought I had found one and was all poised to move all of my sites to this company. I have been exploring all of the control panel features and discovered to my horror that all email accounts set up on all domains are accessible to me regardless of the user logging-in and changing their password! Also, on each separate domain anyone with control panel access can access all email accounts within their domain too!
The hosting company is a major web-hosting name. I am shocked, I am reeling, this can't be right I thought and contacted support who say, "yes, it is just the way the system works"! I am wondering about contacting a regulator/watchdog for hosting. Is there one?
Surely this is a very serious breach of privacy and data protection. Surely it makes any user of this service vulnerable to being spyed on or accused of breaching someone else's privacy.
Please let me have your comments.
PS. can anyone recommend a solid, reliable multihosting package - preferably UK-based?
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Regards, Rick
On-The-Web-Now!
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BobbyDouglas
Posts: 5452
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From: Arizona
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RE: Serious privacy and data issue - please comment! - 6/28/2008 10:31:56
Do you know what control panel they were using?
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The Arizona Web Hosting Challenge
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RickP
Posts: 665
Joined: 11/13/2004
From: Kent, U.K.
Status: offline
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RE: Serious privacy and data issue - please comment! - 6/28/2008 10:37:32
quote:
Do you know what control panel they were using?
Their own custom control panel. Are there common ones known to allow such access?
What do you think about this. Can this be in any way acceptable?
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Regards, Rick
On-The-Web-Now!
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BobbyDouglas
Posts: 5452
Joined: 5/15/2003
From: Arizona
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RE: Serious privacy and data issue - please comment! - 6/28/2008 23:32:01
The control panel I use doesn't allow you to directly access the website for an e-mail account setup within that control panel. However, I am able to change the password, and then log into the e-mail account.
Some of the major control panels are: cpanel, direct admin, plesk, helm, and ensim
As far as finding a new host goes, you get what you pay for. Try to stay away from hosting companies that offer a lot of space/bandwidth for very little money. Normally, if it sounds too good to be true, it is. There are a lot of hosting companies around, and the majority of them all believe they can compete on the initial offer (low cost for lots of space/bandwidth). If you're hosting a business related website, you should find a host that focuses most on uptime and support.
Doing a quick search online, it seems like UKWSD has had quite a few solid reviews from long terms clients (here's one that's fairly old). I did read a couple reviews that would make me think twice about putting a business on their server though. One person's account got shut down for what UKWSD believes is illegal activity, and doesn't bother to contact the client after/before the account is shut down. Read full story here
That's only a single thing I found, and was also only a one sided view on it as well.
Don't expect to find a host with a perfect track record, but do keep in mind what people are complaining about, and how it will affect you, if at all.
Think about how much space/bandwidth you actually need, and find a host that fits within that range, and still allows you room to grow.
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Arizona Web Design - Mr Bobs Web Design in Arizona
The Arizona Web Hosting Challenge
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RickP
Posts: 665
Joined: 11/13/2004
From: Kent, U.K.
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RE: Serious privacy and data issue - please comment! - 6/29/2008 8:42:46
Thanks for all input. My current cpanel would indeed allow me to do a password reset on an email account and then access it afterwards if I was of a mind to do so. I don't consider that quite so bad – I guess that is the situation with any provider who must retain the ability to reset passwords for people. The cpanel of the host I am trying out offers one click viewing (through webmail) of any and every account created! Of course I would never do so but it just seems so unprofessional that such an option exists. No doubt they have the same ability to read all of my emails too. I asked the tech guy if that was the case, at which point he told me to ring customer services about it all on Monday!
Regarding getting what you pay for... no problem - I have no qualms about forking out for decent hosting these days, I now have plenty of sites and growing every month, which easily pays for good quality hosting. Give me exactly what I want and I'll pay up no hesitation. The one I was trialling charged around £50 pm for a multi-hosting deal. I wouldn't even mind considering a dedicated server or VPS but I don't know how much extra hassle that would involve in managing the server. I just want RELIABILITY, EXCELLENT EMAIL SERVICES (inc spam protection etc.), PHP and RELIABILITY!
I'll be exploring UKWSD, they seem to use the same cpanel and more that I am using currently, which is fine. My most important question to them will be how do they protect the shared hosting from being abused by spammers? My current host is on the naughty list with hotmail, and so are some others (well-known companies in the UK) I enquired with too. I asked them frankly and they told me that they too have this problem.
Anyhow, I'll be asking for my money back with the one I am trying out. This is a very serious breach of professionalism and I would have thought that it must surely breach a few other rules these days too! It's a shame because otherwise they were really helpful nice folk with a nice cpanel interface, good looking mail facilities and lot of other good features besides.
Ah well, the quest continues…
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Regards, Rick
On-The-Web-Now!
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BobbyDouglas
Posts: 5452
Joined: 5/15/2003
From: Arizona
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RE: Serious privacy and data issue - please comment! - 6/29/2008 12:03:45
quote:
That doesn't sound like the UKWSD I know
- Well that review was 4 years old, it was the first one that came up when searching online for them. A LOT can change in 4 years of hosting. It shows these guys are still in the market, with apparently a couple happy clients from here. That's a good thing 
I wouldn't have a single review make my decision, but reviews like that would make me think some more and do more research on them.
quote:
I'll be exploring UKWSD, they seem to use the same cpanel and more that I am using currently, which is fine. My most important question to them will be how do they protect the shared hosting from being abused by spammers? My current host is on the naughty list with hotmail, and so are some others (well-known companies in the UK) I enquired with too. I asked them frankly and they told me that they too have this problem.
- From the 1GB packages @ barely $5/month, I wouldn't be surprised if they had a lot more issues than just that. These kind of hosts fall into the category of ones who oversell. This info is common to hosting companies who oversell, and not specific to UKWSD.
Every company has to make $x amount of money per server. Since they sell at a very low cost, they need to put more customers on every server, in order to bring home the bacon. So instead of having a server with maybe 300 clients on it that could all cause potential problems (CPU or I/O overload, spammers, viruses, etc..), you have 3 times that, or even more in some cases. A lot of companies claim they have "high end servers" to combat this, but in the real world, it just isn't true. There isn't a way to limit CPU usage for a client. No matter how high end the server is, there is still a way for a single user to bring it down.
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Arizona Web Design - Mr Bobs Web Design in Arizona
The Arizona Web Hosting Challenge
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