How WhatsApp Violated Canadian Privacy Law? Unencrypted messages.
Canadians know that we have much stricter online privacy laws than most of our counterparts around the world and with that said, as a company, Canadian Web Hosting, always follows and keeps track of stories that breach our Canadians laws. Why? Because Canadian people and Canadians businesses care very much about where their own data are stored which is right here on Canadian soil. Both of our data centres are located in Vancouver, BC, and Toronto, ON and as you can imagine, we pride ourselves in protecting our customers' data very seriously. Your online data.
WhatsApp
Photo © abulhussain on Flickr
Now, if you are the kind of user who enjoys apps and texting, you are probably familiar with WhatsApp Messenger, a cross-platform mobile messaging app which allows you to exchange messages without having to pay for SMS since the app uses your data plan instead of your texting plan. The app is readily available for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone and Nokia.
A few days ago, the media reported that privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said that the mobile chat app WhatsApp violated Canadian privacy law and needed to be updated to comply with all her concerns. The article states:
Investigators found messages were being transmitted unencrypted, which left them vulnerable to being intercepted by hackers, particularly on public WiFi hotspots. The company did begin encrypting messages in September in response to the privacy agencies. But Stoddart says WhatsApp still has work to do to resolve all its identified issues. She was unhappy that users were not getting adequate disclosure about how their status messages could be seen by people not on their contact list. The company says it will address the complaint in a new release expected in the fall.
If you're a heavy app user, you might want to think twice about the purpose of the apps that you are using and how one company is utilizing your personal contact information. We often blog about privacy and you can keep up by following our "privacy" tag. Recently, we wrote about data centre physical security, our deployment of SecureIT Botnet and Malware Prevention, and the roles of StopTheHacker and prevention.
If you're looking for additional information on this topic, you may email us at sales@canadianwebhosting.com, or call us at 1-877-871-7888. You may also contact us through social media on Twitter at @cawebhosting, through our Facebook Page or leave us a comment below.
Felice Lam Online Community Manager Canadian Web Hosting
WordCamp Victoria 2013 Recap
Last Saturday, Canadian Cloud Hosting (www.cacloud.com) proudly sponsored WordCamp Victoria 2013 at the platinum level and as expected and as anticipated, we knew that our team would enjoy spending the day with a community full of WordPress enthusiasts. We even got to meet Miss 604 (one of Canada’s most famous independent bloggers) who’s known as Rebecca Bollwitt and we even had the pleasure to raffle off a signed copy of her latest book. During our session, we enjoyed sharing our one-click WordPress install feature and some of our web hosting packages. The University of Victoria was a great venue to spend time with both passionate users, eager developers and many bloggers for an entire day of learning and connecting.
Our team with WordCamp Victoria organizer, Paul Holmes
On our Facebook Page, we snapped a few pictures during the event and we also took the time to capture a round up of some of the attendees' own recaps including other relevant links below. If we missed yours, we invite you to tweet us your link at @cawebhosting or leave us a comment below. Overall, WordCamp Victoria was a great success and we look forward to sponsoring more community events this year.
Felice Lam Online Community Manager Canadian Web Hosting
Canadian Web Hosting Expands Cloud Shared Hosting in Canada with New Shared Cloud Hosting With VMware
Leading Canadian Web Hosting Provider Canadian Web Hosting Expands Their Shared Cloud Hosting Services and Announces Launch of All Canadian Premium Cloud Shared Hosting Plans Built On VMware
Vancouver, British Columbia, January 8, 2013
Canadian Web Hosting, the leading provider of web hosting and infrastructure services in Canada, today announced the extension of its Shared Cloud Web Hosting services by launching new Linux- and Windows-based Cloud Shared Hosting services that give shared hosting customers improved reliability, industry leading virtualization and capabilities of more expensive cloud-based solutions without the cost and challenges of managing their own virtual server.
In combination with their SSAE 16 Type II (formerly SAS70) certifications, Canadian Web Hosting's Cloud Shared Hosting solutions address the needs of small businesses and web hosting users who have high uptime requirements, want the benefits that cloud virtualization can provide, but want the ease of a shared hosting environment including use of cPanel or Plesk control panels. With Shared Cloud Hosting, Canadian Web Hosting becomes the first Canadian web host to offer shared hosting built on top of VMware giving its customers a unique advantage. Starting as low as $12.00 per month, Canadian companies of all sizes can now leverage on-demand cloud shared hosting, automatic failover, resource distribution and the reassurance that their sites will remain online avoiding many common issues associated with Shared Hosting.
Unlike traditional shared hosting plans that are built on top of a single dedicated server, Shared Cloud Hosting uses clusters of enterprise-grade Dell Servers that utilize hardware-based SANs for maximum performance. When combined with enterprise-grade VMware virtualization, customers have the protection of redundant hardware failover, the simplicity of shared hosting, and can be assured that all customer data will remain in Canada. Each Shared Cloud Hosting plan, current and new clients, will get highly redundant dedicated server and networking components that yield a higher-level of performance and availability for their critical infrastructure, automated backup services, easy 1-click application installations and immediate access to the control panel of their choice. This is something that is not always possible in typical Public Clouds today especially for shared hosting."
"Whether it is Linux or Windows, our Cloud Shared Hosting plans are a game changer for Canadian customers and businesses. Traditionally, if you wanted the benefits of virtualization, you had to look at a virtual server or service offering that required technical resources to manage that server. More importantly, many of those same services are located in a country that doesn’t allow customers to meet their privacy requirements with their cloud-based data,” said Matt McKinney, Director at Canadian Web Hosting. “Unlike some of our competitors who use third party resources, our Cloud Shared Hosting plans were built from the ground up using proven Six Sigma methodologies that incorporate the voice of our customer. We recognize that security and geography are just as important as the technology. Our plans are tailored specifically for customers looking for the simplicity of a shared hosting environment, and want to utilize the benefits of a cloud environment where features like automatic failover and geographic control are included. We’ve recognized from day one that not every customer has the resources to invest in expensive hardware or complicated load-balanced, multi-server configurations. We want to make the benefits of the cloud available to everyone and lower the short- and long-term costs to get access to enterprise-grade cloud hosting services.”
Canadian Web Hosting's certified support teams can help manage the servers 24/7 and every server that includes cPanel or Plesk with regular backup snapshots to help keep data protected and scalability with unlimited email and storage. In addition, customers get the ability to one-click install many leading applications like Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MySQL and many more.
For more information, visit them at http://www.canadianwebhosting.com, or get the latest news by following them on Twitter at @cawebhosting and on Facebook. This information can also be found on their press room or you may also view other related media content on their Pinterest page.
Felice Lam Online Community Manager Canadian Web Hosting
Canadian Cloud Hosting Sponsors WordCamp Victoria 2013
A happy new year 2013 means new events to sponsor!
Two months ago, we had the pleasure to sponsor WordCamp and BuddyCamp 2012 in Vancouver and with less than two weeks to go, we're proud to announce that Canadian Cloud Hosting is going to sponsor WordCamp Victoria 2013. What a fun way for our team to kick off the new year with the tech community! We love how dynamic the WordPress community is no matter which area we find ourselves in. The event welcomes users and developers of all levels including bloggers, small business owners, designers and any other WordPress enthusiasts. Our team is quite familiar with the day format and we're anticipating this event to be another great learning experience for every attendees. Their motto goes as such, "The definitive educational event for WordPress enthusiasts" and we are super excited to be a part of this event!
Hosted on January 12th, 2013 at the University of Victoria
WordCamp Victoria will be held on Saturday, January 12th, 2013 from 8 am to 5 pm at the University of Victoria campus. Tickets are only $20 excluding HST. The full line up of speakers covers a wide range of interest including sessions like Plugin Development 101, Non-Technical Hacks for WordPress Content Marketing, and even, WordPress Security. Our very own session from 1:00 to 1:50 pm is called "Webhosting 101: One-Click WordPress Install" with Kings and Matt that will be catered to beginner to intermediate users looking to learn more about setting up their own sites and for those users who are looking to learn more about webhosting as a whole.
If you're planning on attending, we invite you to stop by our table to introduce yourself and especially, since we'll be raffling off some great prizes including Miss 604's latest book through a Twitter contest, some free hosting and we'll even have some free teeshirts for you to take home. 2013 is here and as a company, we would like to continue showing our community involvement and commitment to give back to our local, tech community.
Finally, please, don't forget that you can connect with us ahead of time on social media through Twitter at @cawebhosting, or through our Facebook Page. See you in Victoria, BC!
Felice Lam Online Community Manager Canadian Web Hosting
Startup Canada Blueprints Pop Up Press Conference in Vancouver on November 27, 2012
Last month, you might recall one of our recent posts on why B.C. stands out within the Startup Canada community and today, we’re continuing our support for our local, Vancouver (tech) startup community by sharing their upcoming event: Startup Canada Blueprints Pop Up Press Conference. Vancouver will be one out of the six cities in Canada to host this conference including Ottawa, Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, and Edmonton.
Please join Startup Canada's BC Community in announcing and celebrating the launch of the Startup Canada Blueprints and its plans for 2013 during this very special Pop Up Press Conference featuring some of the region's most dynamic entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial champions.
We’re days away from this exciting morning conference! Startup Canada will be on Tuesday, November 27th, 2012, from 10:00 to 11:00 PST, hosted down the street from our Vancouver Harbour Data Centre, at the Launch Academy in Gastown. You may view the full event details for more information.
If you are not familiar with this dynamic community, you may visit their official site, or find them on social media like Twitter or Facebook to name a few. We would also like to give a brief shout-out to Institute B for inviting us to participate virtually in helping them create a successful event next week.
About Startup Canada
Startup Canada is Canada’s first-ever, entrepreneur-led, national movement to enhance the nation’s competitiveness and prosperity by supporting and celebrating Canadian entrepreneurship.
Startup Canada is harnessing the collective energies of Canadian entrepreneurs and enterprise support communities from Coast to Coast with the goals of providing the entrepreneurship community with a strong voice, promoting a vibrant entrepreneurial culture and creating a unified brand that Canadians can rally around.
This unique effort will not only identify key challenges facing Canadian entrepreneurs, but will bring them together in a way they never have been before. It’s the beginning of a critical conversation and the first step in a new way of thinking.
Whether you are an individual who’s interested in startups or not, you can still benefit from their insightful blog containing recent interviews including key business tips. Here is a short compilation of their most recent posts in chronological order:
• Mentor Rock Star: Manu Sharma
• Mentor Rock Star: Erin Anderson
• Mentor Rock Star: Jim Marsh
• Mentor Rock Star: Cathy Kuzel
Are you planning to attend this sold out Startup Canada Blueprints Pop Up Press Conference in Vancouver? What are you most looking forward to? Please share your thoughts below with a comment.
Felice Lam Online Community Manager Canadian Web Hosting
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