What is cPanel?

cPanel is considered a platform used to manage a particular website or a set of websites. It is one of the most reliable Linux-based GUI (graphical user interface) using which one can handle their website with ease. Not only graphical user interface cPanel is having two different interfaces. The first interface is named as the user interface handled by users for their site maintenance. The second one is named the Server management interface used in managing your hosting servers. cPanel is not available for free it is a paid website management platform. cPanel is also known as the control panel of any website.

Benefits and Drawbacks of cPanel

Benefits of cPanel

• User-Friendly Interface: The interface of cPanel is user-friendly. Yours can easily access this platform because of its simplicity and understandability. The graphics of this interface is soo much responsive that one can easily handle it. It also consists of easy commands used to perform different operations.
• Easy Installation: Installation of cPanel in your Linux device is soo simple that one can easily install it with a few clicks. Its installation is so much effortless and doesn’t take a lot of time. It basically requires a Linux-based OS which should have at least 20 GB of free disc space and more than 512 MB of RAM to run on your device.
• Browser Compatibility: cPanel is compatible with almost every browser. There are different browsers with which it can be used like Safari, Opera, Firefox, Google Chrome, etc. It also supports different browser extensions in order to increase website rankings.
• Reliable: cPanel is one of the most reliable platforms used for website maintenance. It is capable of detecting different types of website errors or server problems. After detecting any error or problem it restarts the whole system for providing error-free and reliable service to its users.
• Cost-Effective: cPanel doesn't cost you more as compared to other platforms used in website maintenance. Also, the cost of maintenance of cPanel is not that high as compared to other platforms.

Drawbacks of cPanel

• Less Secure: cPanel is not as secure as a user needs. It is one of the most vulnerable platforms which can easily attract hackers. However, it consists of 2-factor authentication but it is not that much secure against brute force attacks. Hackers can easily access the systems and can duplicate, corrupt, or delete your data easily.
• Not flexible: cPanel is not that flexible as compared to other website maintenance platforms. However, you can transfer your website from one hosting server to other which takes a lot of time.
• Authorized access to all files: It is considered a highly faced drawback of cPanel. cPanel does not allow all the users to access all the files without authorization. The admin firstly has to authorize the users and grant them access to all the files. Only after this one can access all the files. It consumes a lot of time and engages a lot of human efforts.

10 Steps to Secure your cPanel with ease

• Regularly Updating cPanel: For properly securing your cPanel you have to update it on a regular basis. If you will use an outdated version there are higher chances of security compromise. You can update your cPanel just by selecting WHM >> cPanel >> Update. So keep your cPanel always updated.
• Protecting WHM access: WHM is abbreviated as Web Host Manager. WHM cPanel Login credentials are provided to all the users but it is not sufficient. You should use a secure SSL for the web host panel for making it more secure.
• SSH Protection: SSH is basically known as the Secure Shell. A secure shell can’t protect your cPanel system when attackers use the brute force technique for infiltrating your cPanel system. You can secure your SSH system by disabling the outdated version of SSH and adding its latest one.
• Disable access to Anonymous FTP: Anonymous FTP enables unauthorized users to upload different files on your server. You should disable it so that anyone can’t upload anything on your server. This will prevent your cPanel from getting infected by malicious files or viruses.
• Enable cPanel Hulk: cPHulk is basically used to protect your cPanel from different attacks. One among them is the brute force attack considered one of the most powerful attacks. Brute force attacks use different data breach algorithms. cPHulk is a service that prevents such kinds of attacks on your cPanel.
• Install Firewall: Firewall is a particular software that must be installed in your cPanel for preventing it from different malicious software like trojans, ransomware, and other viruses. You should install a firewall to prevent your system.
• Install Rootkit Detecter: You should install a rootkit detector on your cPanel to detect a rootkit on your server. A rootkit is considered a computer program that enables a hacker in getting access to your system. Rootkit runs on your server invisibly without your notice.
• Use Strong passwords: You should use a strong password for your cPanel login. Cpanel consists of different password generator tools using which you can choose to select a strong password. You should also change your password after a certain period of time on a regular basis for increasing security.
• Secure Apache and PHP: cPanel consists of a PHP compiler used for developing and compiling your website code. This compiler sometimes can have malicious code or files. For preventing such files you should keep both Apache and PHP updated.
• Use Cloud Linux: Cloud Linux is considered one of the most secure operating systems. Cloud Linux is one of the paid os platforms. It consists of a lightweight virtualized environment that ensures the security of a particular user by isolating him from others.

Conclusion

We have studied different aspects of securing the cPanel website management platform. Cpanel is having a lot of advantages as compared to disadvantages. It is one of the highly used website management systems. We have provided a lot of techniques by which a user can secure cPanel. Users can easily implement the techniques which we have listed above.