Website owners rely on web hosting providers to get their websites up and running online.
But here’s the thing that may stumble some website owners: Hosting providers are only responsible for protecting the server in which websites are hosted, but customers will need to protect their own websites within the server.
Bottom line: Web hosting providers are not responsible for the security of websites themselves.
What some web hosting providers may not realize is that the level of security that a web hosting service offers is extremely important to a prospective customer.
Depending on their needs, customers may be looking to see whether a web hosting provider offers SSL, backups, DDoS mitigation, firewalls, and more.
Web hosting providers may choose instead to focus on offering content management systems (WordPress, Drupal, Joomla etc.) rather than any web security tools.
This blog post will discuss some of the concerns web hosting providers may have in partnering with a security vendor specifically to offer a WAF (Web Application Firewall). What are some barriers to entry and how can Cloudbric make the transition smoother compared to other WAF vendors?
1) Extremely long learning curve
First, web hosting providers may be worried about the deployment and management requirements that come with installing and utilizing a WAF. Before they can extend security to their customers, web hosters are faced with a slight learning curve when configuring a WAF for the first time or when creating custom policy rules that fit their security needs.Regardless of the WAF vendor that a web hoster ultimately partners with, there will be some kind of learning curve. Luckily WAF security vendors like Cloudbric seek to minimize management requirements by providing flexible deployment models.With API integrations available for web hosting providers, these web hosting companies can easily integrate Cloudbric’s APIs into their WAF service sign up process to offer WAF as an add-on security service into their hosting plans. 
2) Perceived need for multiple security personnel needed to deploy and maintain WAF
The primary business model that web hosting providers profit the most is from hosting websites on their servers. They have thousands of clients they manage and must keep happy.Some of their responsibilities include guaranteeing high reliability/uptime in addition to providing technical support. Depending on the size of the web hosting firm, web hosters may feel like they need a big security team to deploy and maintain WAF. However, there are many security vendors out there that offer fully managed WAFs such as Cloudbric. The management of WAF can be very low which allows IT personnel to just “set it and forget it.” This means web hosters do only the minimal work but at the same time still benefit from having an additional source of monthly revenue by extending web application security to their customers.
3) Complex UI/UXUI/UX is extremely important to almost every software user out there. For WAFs, it’s no different. Most web hosting providers want a seamless experience when using a WAF console in order to manage customers and disseminate threat information easily. Furthermore, end users themselves should be able to login to their own dashboards and understand their web attacks and perform basic security settings such as IP blocking.One added benefit for web hosting providers is expending far fewer resources to reach those insights.Cloudbric’s user-friendly WAF console makes it easy for web hosting providers to manage all client websites.Learn more by requesting a demo with Cloudbric.
4) Upkeep costs
For web hosters, there is always the fear of additional upkeep costs, upgrades, and other “hidden” costs.Most web hosters are interested in making a return on investment (ROI) but will need to consider the total cost of ownership should they choose to provide WAF to their customers as an add-on security service. (Contact us to get a quote and see for yourself how Cloudbric offers the cheapest WAF compared to other vendors.)The total cost of ownership includes more than just the product purchase. For WAFs, there might be installation fees and upkeep fees to worry about. Upkeep costs may include hardware or software updates. Fortunately, with cloud-based options like Cloudbric, there is zero hardware required to install or maintain an exclusive WAF. Furthermore, there is no need to worry about management costs such as day-to-day tasks including any configurations, policy updates etc. Cloudbric’s security team of experts can handle all of this for web hosting providers. Finally, signature updates for the WAF technology itself are also not necessary because Cloudbric uses signature-free and AI techniques to detect threats.
Conclusion
For web hosting companies with a low-profit margin, adding complementary security services to their paid hosting plans can create new streams of revenue. Web hosting companies may be interested in distributing WAF to their customers but are hesitant to do so due to perceived barriers to entry. However, as we explored in this blog post, these barriers such as a need for a specialized security team, complex UI/UX, and upkeep costs, can all be addressed with the right WAF vendor.If you’re a web hosting service provider, and if you’d like to talk to one of our security experts in more detail, email us at partners@cloudbric.com! No commitments whatsoever.