Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Website Security Without Breaking the Bank?

Posted by kdawson on from the man-who-is-his-own-lawyer dept.

An anonymous reader writes "I do my own Web design and have a few websites — MySQL, PHP, CSS, HTML, that kind of thing. It's simple, amateur stuff, but I would love to have some reasonable ways to assess their security myself and patch the big holes, or possibly enlist someone to do 'white hat' work to assist me. I have absolutely no idea how to proceed. I don't want to get mired in a never-ending paranoia-fueled race to patch holes before the hackers find them, but on the other hand, I don't want my websites to look like Swiss cheese. Right now, I wouldn't know what kind of cheese they look like: Swiss, Havarti, or hard as Parmesan. How can I take reasonable steps to protect these websites myself? What books has the community found useful? What groups (if any) can offer me inexpensive white-hat hacking that won't end up costing me a first-born child? Or am I better off just waiting until a problem arises and then fixing it?"

6 of 195 comments (clear)

  1. Well, for starters... by Xenna · · Score: 5, Funny

    What's the URL? ;)

  2. Re:Hi Slashdot by Tubal-Cain · · Score: 4, Funny

    Buy a pony.

  3. Re:if you wait until it happens... by arogier · · Score: 4, Funny

    Better to shoot for Colby Jack for the time being. A nice blend of cheeses that get along well enough to accomplish the sites purpose and conspicuously lacking in holes. A parmesan site will generally have issues of its own related to its crumbling interfering with functionality.

    --
    http://www.aaronrogier.net
  4. Attack with all your might .. by cheros · · Score: 5, Funny

    http://127.0.0.1/

    Enjoy.

    --
    Insert .sig here. Send no money now. Owner may sue, contents will settle. Batteries not included.
    1. Re:Attack with all your might .. by sumdumass · · Score: 5, Funny

      Wow, I didn't know so much porn could be so free.

      Some of the models look a little young though, are you sure they are all legal at that site?

      Anyways, thanks for the tip.

  5. simple, effective starting point by dltaylor · · Score: 4, Funny

    http://xkcd.com/327/