Account automation software

[WebEdit]

When a web host uses account automation software for user sign-up how can they control security in terms of keeping fraudulent users and spammers, etc. from automatically signing up and putting their evil content on a server?

[dchman]

I actually don't see a different. Whether it's automatic or manual, web hosts still have to face with this problem. I think it's a matter of human monitoring.

[SilverStone]

I think it's a matter of human monitoring.

Hi,

I think you're right because no matter how good the systems, you must have a human monitoring on all your server.

[Naeem|THB]

I think you mean systems like http://www.varilogix.com/
They do work quite affectively, but its true you stil need someone monitoring your server.
Regards

[WebEdit]

That's interesting. I just read an article about free hosting being used for spyware. http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=166402311

I'm curious what the really big hosts with thousands and thousands of web sites do to take care of this? Say a clever hacker posts a legit looking site and waits a week to add the spyware or malware?

It just seems like a task that really requires automation in it's scope but really requires a human intelligence to do the checking. I suppose there is a fine line...

I can imagine host offering reseller hosting probably get this a lot too. Do you remember when MCI was hosting Send Safe the viral Viagra spammers through a reseller and because they were making billions per year they wouldn't do anything about it?

[newservers]

What I know is that these spywares etc needs to access a few dlls (windows) or need right permissions to execute. You can use a script to prevent client applications to use these files.

Firewalls and automated servers monitoring is also a good way to prevent spamming eg. CPU load, Mem Load, database loops, mail queue etc.

Again, you need good administrators as first step and verify each account by calling them (we do this).

Ravi Agarwal

[micklejony]

Anti-spyware software is only as effective as its most recent update because it is inherently reactive treating "known" threats.

[alemcherry]

That's interesting. I just read an article about free hosting being used for spyware. http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=166402311

I'm curious what the really big hosts with thousands and thousands of web sites do to take care of this? Say a clever hacker posts a legit looking site and waits a week to add the spyware or malware?


Free hosting is very easy to be mis-used. They have to take whatever the user say about themselves and there is no way the host can confirm it. Most free hosts monitor the accounts and ban the offenders, periodically. That is a never ending process. Most free hosts are small, I dont really find any big host offereing free hosting - except for free blogs or template based sites.

Big hosts obviously get the credit card info, which is verified automatically. Probably they have a mechanism to manually verify the payment details and approve. That is the assurance they have. In any there is goign to be a small percentage of spammers on which the action is taken as and when noticed.