3/23/2006
Security By Obscurity
Good security consists of multiple layers of procedures and applications, all with the goal of keeping unauthorized users out and ensuring properly authorized users have access to only the things they should. With public internet servers and web applications this can mean things such as:
- Ensuring users create at least moderately secure passwords
- Instituting mandatory password changes on a monthly or quarterly schedule
- Regular security audits
- Firewall and firewall maintenance
Another layer not usually thought of is obscurity. If they can’t find it, they can’t exploit it. That being said, obscurity by itself isn’t very secure. It only takes one malicious user to find what has been hidden and all hell breaks loose. Multiple layers of security build upon each other more than just through addition. They add orders of magnitude more security to the system as a whole.
Most web applications support changing the default install directories. To keep prying eyes out of your data, move PHPMyAdmin into a directory with a random name. Move the admin directory for an applications like, ZenCart. If you are use these admin URLs frequently, the URL will be saved in the history of your browser and always accessible. If not a simple bookmark can help you remember.
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