The Role of Hosting Providers in Web Security: Understanding and Improving Security Incentives and Performance via Analysis of Large-scale Incident Data

Abstract

In theory, hosting providers can play an important role in fighting cybercrime and misuse. This is because many online threats, be they high-profile or mundane, use online storage infrastructure maintained by hosting providers at the core of their criminal operations. However, in practice, we see large differences in the security measures taken by hosting providers. Some providers implement an array of actions to protect their customers. Others lack even the capacity to detect cybercrime, are negligent of cybercrime, or even willfully facilitate it. This book answers a series of questions that collectively aim to understand the underlying differences in security incentives and policies of hosting providers: How do we define a hosting provider? How are they distributed? To what extent do their individual properties or security measures affect the volume of incident in their networks? We expect this book to provide useful insights for hosting providers about the effectiveness of their security policies and to serve as a an input for development of evidence-based policies by the government.