If you have ever visited the A2 Hosting site, you might have noticed that we are certified as Hacker Safe. You’ve probably seen the Hacker Safe seal on other sites as well. What exactly does it mean to be Hacker Safe? Consumers obviously feel a lot safer sending our private information to a company deemed Hacker Safe, but why? And how does a company become Hacker Safe?

In short, Hacker Safe is a 3 step daily scanning audit that searches all Internet services, ports, operating systems, servers, key applications, firewalls, addressable switches, load balancers and routers for all known vulnerabilities. If you notice on the A2 Hosting Hacker Safe seal, the site is certified daily so that sites are free from these security vulnerabilities.

Step 1 - Port Discovery Scan – This step accurately determines which ports on an IP address are open.

Step 2 - Network Services Scan – After the open ports are discovered, a network test is performed on each port. Hacker Safe examines to see what software is running and how it is organized. This information is matched to a knowledge base of security vulnerabilities to launch additional tests.

Step 3 - Web Application Scan – This step tests all of the HTTP services and virtual domains for any existence of potentially harmful modules, configurations settings, CGIs and other scripts. The next step in the web application scan is to crawl the site to find forms. Forms are used in ways to reveal all application-level vulnerabilities such as code revelation, cross-site scripting and SQL injection. Finally, generic and software specific tests are run to discover mis-configurations and coding error vulnerabilities.

A2 Hosting has partnered with RatePoint, a 3^rd party testimonial and rating company, to allow customers to write reviews and rate their experience with A2 Hosting. Be one of the first to tell other potential customers what you think about A2 Hosting. This is your chance to voice your opinion. You will also be able to find the RatePoint seal throughout the A2 Hosting web page. There is no need to sign up for an account, so the review process should be quite easy and quick.

Click here to Review and Rate A2 Hosting.

According to the PCI Compliance Guide, “Any company that accepts, processes, or stores credit card information MUST be PCI compliant”. Failure to comply with the PCI security standards may result in heavy fines, restrictions or permanent expulsion from card acceptance programs”. A2 Hosting can help you avoid these unnecessary consequences and give your customers piece of mind.

Unlike many web services that merely offer scans to discover potential security flaws in your e-commerce website and expect you to correct them yourself, A2 Hosting works with you to fix those security vulnerabilities to ensure that your site is certified PCI compliant. We know that the early stage of becoming PCI Compliant isn’t the most institutive thing. We’re here to help. Visit our Managed PCI Compliant Hosting page for more information.

I came across three sites that I wanted to share with the blogging world. These sites allow you to register your blog and search for certain products, companies and services to get paid to review them. This is a win, win for everybody. The company seeking reviews gets affordable word-of-mouth incoming content to their page. The blog world wins because not only do they get paid for each post, but also they are kind of “forced” to place original content on their page that ultimately will help the blog grow. Listed below are the three blog networks that I have come across that appear pretty reputable.

LoudLaunch

Blogvertise

Reviewme

It may be frustrating if you want to start a site and can’t think of a good name. You might think that all of the good domain names have already been taken, but this far from the truth.

Let’s take the scenario that you want to start a website specifically for the purpose of joining the A2 Hosting affiliate program. I would suggest purchasing the domain name LinuxHosting.com for SEO purposes. Unfortunately, this domain is unavailable. Don’t despair. Allow the site Domain Fellow to help you out. Enter the keyword linuxhosting in the “Enter Your Keyword” box. Choose the category of the site that you would like to create. In this instance, I would suggest the “Internet” category because that is the most closely related to web hosting and search.

You will be given 30 possible domain name suggestions. How about something like ezlinuxhosting.com? It is pretty catchy. After you have chosen the domain name that you would like to purchase, visit the A2 Hosting Domain Registration page, purchase the desired domain name, the desired level of hosting and you are ready to roll with your affiliate site.

Working in the business world, your company tends to get free “swag” from companies you purchase from or are trying to get you to buy their products. This week we received a penguin in our office from a particular company, but not just any penguin. It was a penguin that I had seen before, mainly on Linux related sites. It turns out that the Linux mascot is Tux the Penguin. I probably should have realized this sooner, especially since I work for a Linux web hosting company.

There were four main people involved in the creation of Tux the Penguin. The idea for a Linux penguin came from the creator of Linux, Linus Torvalds. Tux was created in 1996 by Larry Ewing, a U.S. computer programmer thanks in part to the input by Alan Cox, an employee of Red Hat (one of the world’s largest Linux distribution vendors). Tux was further evolved by a man named Linus Tovalds. The reason? Mainly because Tolvalds likes penguins and they are “fun”. That’s as good of a reason as any. You can’t really argue with the man that owns the Linux trademark.

I thought I would share some interesting and in a sense scary information with you regarding PCI Compliance.

Do I Need To Be PCI Complaint? - Any company that accepts, processes, or stores credit card information MUST be PCI compliant.

What Happens If I’m Not Compliant? - Failure to comply with the PCI security standards may result in heavy fines, restrictions or permanent expulsion from card acceptance programs.

Kind of scary don’t you think? This isn’t exactly common knowledge, especially for something that can cause an e-commerce site to be heavily fined. Current statistics state that only 62% of mid-sized ecommerce sites and 77% of large ecommerce sites are PCI Compliant. Those site’s that are not PCI Compliant could be in line for some heavy fines. Don’t let that happen to you!

If you are not PCI Compliant and need to be, A2 Hosting can help. Many sites offer PCI scans and expect you to fix any security vulnerabilities. Not us. We will work with you to make sure that your site is deemed PCI Compliant. Visit A2 Hosting’s PCI Compliant Hosting page for more information.

No Foolin’ April Hosting Coupon

With the weather turning mild and the last bit of snow finally melting, we were feeling especially friendly this month at A2 Hosting. We’re flipped the script on 4/1 (April Fools Day) to offer a 14% off discount coupon to forum readers during the month of April. We promise this is not a cruel April Fool’s joke. It is just a little thank you for taking the time to read this post. Use the coupon code A2spring to take advantage of the discount, or send it out to your friends so they can enjoy the reduction as well. This discount expires 4/30/2008.

Over 96% of A2 Hosting customers would refer our hosting services to their friends and family. Come see what the buzz is all about!

One member of A2 Hosting’s esteemed support staff posted a very useful blog post on his web page. As a support technician, he handles many hosting inquiries throughout the course of a day. In his post titled How To Contact Tech Support (and avoid frustration), he outlines the best ways to contact a support staff and get the best technical support possible. He offers the following tips to ensure that the technician has the most precise information possible so that they can solve the problem that you are encountering as quickly and as smoothly as possible for both you and the technician..

Provide as much information as possible, including but not limited to:

• Operating system and version you are using
• Browser type and version, if applicable
• Mail client and version, if applicable (Outlooks comes in so many flavors)
• A ULR to replicate the issue, if applicable
• Any error messages that you encountered - copy them exactly, including the error codes
• A way to create or replicate the error
• A time-frame, ex. it always happens, sometimes happens, etc.
• Your IP address (http://ipfinder.us works great)
• Any username(s) or password(s) needed to replicate (change to a temporary one if it makes you feel more comfortable)
• Location, if applicable (connecting from an office or workplace can cause all sorts of problems)

Feel free to read the rest of this very helpful post here at jemmille.com.

At A2 Hosting, we are ecstatic that the weather here in Ann Arbor is FINALLY starting to warm up and those piles of snow are melting away. We want our customers to feel ecstatic like us. That’s why we have issued a coupon good for the month of April for 14% off. Use the coupon code A2spring and you will get to cut a huge chunk off of your hosting costs. New and current customers are free to use the coupon, but please make sure it is on new accounts only. This discount expires 4/30/2008, so make sure to get your account set up soon!