How to Secure Your Hosting Account

Protecting your Lurstan Host account and services

We secure our servers, but the security of your own account is shared between you and us. These steps keep your client area, hosting, VPS and RDP services safe from people who should not have access.

1. Use a strong, unique password

Your password is the first line of defence. Do not use a simple password such as password123, or one you use on another website.

• Our advice: let a password manager, such as Bitwarden, create a random password of at least 12 characters with capital letters, numbers and symbols.
• To change it: log in to the client area, open the account menu (your name, at the top right) and select Change Password.

2. Turn on two-factor authentication (2FA)

With 2FA, logging in needs a code from your phone as well as your password, so a stolen password is not enough. Our guide How to Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) shows the steps.

3. Keep your software up to date

Outdated software is a common way in for attackers.

• Linux VPS: install updates regularly, for example apt update && apt upgrade on Ubuntu or dnf upgrade on AlmaLinux.
• USA RDP: keep Windows Update switched on.
• Web hosting: keep WordPress or your other website software, and all plugins and themes, up to date. Delete the ones you do not use.

4. Watch out for phishing emails

Attackers send emails that pretend to come from us, to steal your login details.

• Check the sender: our emails come from addresses ending in @lurstanhost.com, or lurstanhost.net for messages from our servers.
• Check the links: before you click, hover over a link to see where it goes. Our client area is always at my.lurstanhost.com and cPanel at cloud.lurstanhost.net. If in doubt, type the address yourself.
• Never share passwords: our support team will never ask for your password by email.

5. Secure remote access (VPS)

Servers on default settings attract automated login attempts.

• Use SSH keys: log in with an SSH key instead of a password where you can.
• Change the SSH port: move SSH from port 22 to another number, and allow the new port in your firewall first.
• Turn off direct root login: create your own user with sudo rights, test it, then turn off root login over SSH.

More detail is in How to Protect Your VPS from Malware and Hackers.