Turn off/Shut down site, retain email addresses

[hungrymonk]

Hi.

I know very little about cPanel and web management. I have two websites/domains which are managed through cPanel. My issue is working out how to shut down one or both of these websites while retaining my email addresses for these domains. I'm pretty sure I created both email addresses through cPanel. (I intend to keep these domains.)

I've had both websites for many years, somehow learnt enough to get by when I started, with occasional big help from a software engineer. One website is now clearly a problem as I can see that the forum was recently hacked and it appears that the site may be sending out emails as I received an auto-reply from someone the other day. On the problem website, I have a phpBB forum and a Wordpress page. Neither the phpBB or the Wordpress page have been in active operation for a few years and neither have had program updates. (The other website is Wordpress-based, also not actively operating - it's visible, but I'm not updating content - and could also be taken down if needed at this point in time, though perhaps just a program update is all that's needed for that. There's not much on it, so I'm not that fussed with what happens to it.)

As a 'wish', it would be great if I could keep a copy of the forum somehow, but I'm guessing that would be full of viral junk now and might not be the best idea. That would just be to keep a record of various activities I did on there - somewhat sentimental reasons, but also a record for professional purposes. Probably not that big a deal if it disappears into the ether.

I've had a quick look online about how to temporarily or permanently take down websites, but everything seems rather complicated and assumes prior knowledge of one thing or another that I don't have. If there's an easy step-by-step somewhere, that would be awesome. If this seems like something I should try to get someone more experienced to do, if someone can point me in the right direction to find someone that isn't going to cost a packet, that would also be great.

Thanks for reading, if you've got to the end!

 

[thowden]

Hi

Easy plan:
Take a backup of the old account(s) and download to a USB drive somewhere. Lock it away and pretend you don't really need it. Close / Cancel / Delete the account(s).

Setup a new account for the domain(s) and fresh email address / accounts. Minimise your exposure by only running a website if you need it, and make sure it is maintained / secured. Use a decent host with good security, not the cheapest. Change the DNS configuration to use the new account.

If you really, really, need some older information / files from the old sites, open the backup on a standalone computer - not internet connected and extract the files you need. Scan with AV before putting them anywhere else.

If you do not go near the backup for 6 months, just delete it.

Harder plan: Only if you want to recover your site(s) in-situ. Get someone who can fix compromised sites to do just that, but it will be costly in hours and probably not worthwhile given cost.

Tony

 

[hungrymonk]

Hi Tony.

This advice sounds smart and simple.

I haven't had a proper read through the forum for years. It's just been nice to know that it's there and I did something that actually worked really well for a while. (Got sick for a bit and let the whole thing go.) So, yeah, that's the 6 month test already done.

Good advice in saying to just keep websites that I'm actually going to use and maintain too. I don't think I really understood how domain ownership works for a while. And I've now learnt my lesson about doing program updates!

Thanks for the advice!

 

[cPanelMichael]

Hello,

Let us know if you have any additional questions.

Thanks!