As cybercrime becomes more prevalent, businesses must adopt even stronger security measures to keep their systems and data safe from the latest threats. For many companies, much of that security is provided by their web host. In this post, we explore the strategies and technologies that service providers are implementing to protect their customers in 2025.
Contents
Zero-trust security
Zero-trust security works on the assumption that no user or device can be trusted and that every attempt to access a network is a potential attack. To prevent attacks, including from insider threats, this approach requires user IDs and device permissions to be continuously verified before access is granted.
While businesses can implement zero trust security on their internal business systems, service providers also use it to protect their customers’ hosted infrastructure, network and data. To achieve this, they will:
- Authenticate users and devices before they can access their hosting accounts and control panels.
- Monitor data processing for suspicious activity
- Use least-privilege access control, where users can only access what they need, to minimise unauthorised access to web applications and data.
- Check that devices comply with security policies before access is granted, e.g., having up-to-date operating systems, antivirus software and firewall configurations.
In addition, web hosts will also implement network segmentation. By dividing their network into isolated segments and using security policies to govern communications between them, they can restrict potential threats from moving around the network.
Automated threat detection
With cybercriminals using more advanced techniques to attack businesses, the sooner threats are detected, the better. Today, web hosts use AI-enabled monitoring tools that identify threats in real-time and deal with them instantly. Application firewalls, for example, can detect suspicious or unusual patterns in user behaviour and block traffic that could potentially lead to an attack, breach or DDoS attack.
Service providers also use other tools to keep their customers safe. Modern intrusion and malware detection and prevention systems, and spam filtering tools that identify malware and phishing scams in emails, both make use of machine learning. This enables them to continuously improve their ability to recognise and remove new and evolving threats.
Web hosts also protect their own infrastructure, e.g., servers, desktops and mobile devices, using endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions. This ensures that attacks on these systems cannot be used as a means to gain access to the systems and data they host for their customers.
For more information read: Battling Digital Threats – Preventing Malware Infections
Automated updates and patching
Outdated software can contain vulnerabilities that cybercriminals can easily exploit. According to IBM’s 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report, unpatched vulnerabilities were responsible for 6% of data breaches . Indeed, hackers use bots to search for businesses using vulnerable software and deliberately target them.
Web hosts help prevent these risks by enabling their customers to schedule automatic updates for their software. Tools provided in control panels monitor for updates and security patches and automatically install them on release, immediately removing vulnerabilities on older versions. Managed shared hosting providers will also take responsibility for updating and patching customers operating systems.
Strengthening encryption protocols
Encryption is vital to ensure data remains protected in transit and at rest and inaccessible to hackers even if accessed. Web hosts provide a number of ways for businesses to achieve this.
- SSL/TLS certificates encrypt communications, such as data being sent from a user to a website, preventing eavesdropping, tampering and man-in-the-middle attacks.
- Data stored on servers, including in databases, file systems and backups, can be protected using military-grade, AES-256 encryption.
- Emails can be encrypted using S/MIME with Email SSL Certificates.
- If hardware is compromised, service providers can encrypt entire servers to prevent data theft.
- User passwords can be stored securely using hashing.
- SSH can be used to encrypt file transfers.
- Data can also be encrypted as it travels between web apps and databases, for API requests and responses and, with VPNs, for remote access.
Together, these different methods ensure that web hosts leave no stone unturned when it comes to keeping data secure.
Cloud user? Read: Why Cloud Data Encryption is Essential
Automated backups
Data loss can be caused not just by cyberattacks, but also by hardware failure, software corruption and human error. These disasters can cause immense damage, putting some companies out of business. To reduce the impact of a disaster, backups are essential to ensure a swift recovery.
Today, web hosts provide customers with modern, cloud-based backup solutions that automate the process, and which can be scheduled to take place at the frequencies businesses need. What’s more, backups are stored remotely, checked for integrity to ensure they will work if you need them, and the data is encrypted to prevent unauthorised access. Importantly, being stored in the cloud enables backups to be accessed quickly, speeding up recovery times.
For more information, read: Website Backups – Why Cloud is the Best Solution
Conclusion
As cybercriminals become more sophisticated, web hosting providers are implementing stronger security measures and new technologies to protect their customers’ systems and data. By choosing the right web host, businesses can take advantage of zero-trust security, robust encryption, AI-enabled threat detection and automated updates and backups, ensuring they have the most effective defences in place.
Looking for a hosting provider that puts your security first and provides 360° protection for your systems and data? For more information about our hosting solutions and the security we defend them with, visit our homepage.
