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Security measures for Gumblar attack and similar

It's been discussed several times by different hosting provider that the most common reasons for website vulnerabilities aside from poor server security of some provider is the security implementation of the website owner/administrator.

Most of the attack are gained through stolen FTP login username and password.  It transmits FTP information to an IP address from an infected machine.  This FTP information is used to log on to the web server and infect the hosted website.

It is recommend that you DO NOT store your FTP passwords in your FTP software.  Virus like Gumblar has potential capability to grab stored passwords on the FTP applications.

These are some of the recommendations from the experts:

1. If you think that your website is infected by this virus, please contact your hosting provider and request assistance.
2. It is recommended that you install and scan your system using your updated antivirus, antispyware or even firewall.  You can download some of these applications for free.  Please visit www.download.com for their listing.
3. Once your done and you think that you have a clean system; change your password and make a strong one.  Check my other post on how to make a strong password.
4. You may also ask your hosting provider if they support SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) .  Most of the hosting provider do not provide this information outright but you need to request or ask.  Using SFTP will provide you security using encryption for the transmitting files over the network.
5. And lastly, learn to backup your web files (everything, emails, database, scripts etc...).  You have to remember that all hosting provider has a legal clause on their terms and condition  disclaiming all the possible damages of your website even they provide security and backup system.  The word BACKUP is one of the basic lesson in the world of computing.   It's always better to be safe than sorry.  So, backup your backup

I hope you can use the above information for prevention rather than fixing your website while reading this