Is it illegal to gain access to your own server/site?

[LinuxGeek]

Let's say I own a website. Would it be unethical / illegal to gain access to your own server/site hosted by a company or independent?

The web / server is mine, but in the grand scheme it still falls in someones playground that you don't own.

I couldn't see how I could use this for ethical reasons unless I owned the server itself.

[Arndtwe]

I would assume that this would be okay, actually. After all, you have full access to do as you please, you pay for space and your webserver has it's own IP address (I assume, most do...) than this should be no problem. If you don't have your own IP, or for some reason it is shared with others than I wouldn't do this. But I cannot for the life of me think of any reason this would be the case. People set up hacking training on websites they don't host and it isn't illegal. I guess it depends on your country/specific laws though.

All in all, I would be completely confortable doing this with my own setup here in the U.S.A. I forsee no issues with this.

[Bl4cks4b3r]

Let's say I own a website. Would it be unethical / illegal to gain access to your own server/site hosted by a company or independent?

The web / server is mine, but in the grand scheme it still falls in someones playground that you don't own.

I couldn't see how I could use this for ethical reasons unless I owned the server itself.

Allow me to help shed some light on the issue. If the host is through another company, and you intend on breaking into their infrastructure in any way, it is illegal. If you intend to enter a privelaged storage folder without their permission, it is illegal. If you intend to--in any way--exploit, or search to exploit their software/structure/primary-servers etc in ANY way without their permission (regardless of whether or not you have a website through them), it is ILLEGAL and they technically can SUE you. Here is why: you arent necessarily testing your website... you are testing the security of their servers, allowing you to host a website (set of html,php, etc pages) from their server. So when you test "your website"... your actually testing their server.

hope this helps.

[Acidr4in]

If it's your own server with your own site then i wouldve thought there would be no problem its your property. If on the other hand your talking about trying to pen-test your site thats hosted by a company like GoDaddy i wouldve thought that would be a no no. I may be wrong though.

[snafu777]

Why not call the hosting company and ask for a referral to their smartest tech guy, then when u do get ahold of him, explain what u would like to do.. and see what his response is.

[comaX]

Depends where you live, and where the server is hosted. First thing to do is check the stuff you agreed to upon renting a server with them. It will most probably what you can or cannot do.