I Was the Firewall | How a Former CISO Uncovered Systemic Hosting Failures — and What You Need to Know to Protect Your Web Hosting Environment
Ever wonder if your web hosting is operating as designed? Are your metrics lagging and is your site rank dropping? It might not be your product or your website — it might be your hosting provider or your hosting configuration.
Overview | What You’ll Get from This Article
This in-depth article is designed to help readers:
- Understand how systemic failures in shared hosting environments can impact site functionality and user access
- Learn from a real-life, forensic-level breakdown conducted by a former Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)
- Recognize signs of unauthorized changes, misconfigurations, or internal sabotage
- Access a self-audit checklist to verify their own site’s health
- Know what to do when support systems fail, and how to document issues properly
I Was the Firewall
I’m Hunter Storm. In 2002, I was the first Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at one of the world’s largest hosting companies. Over the years, I’ve worked with enterprise, government, and private-sector security teams. My job has always been to identify problems before they become breaches, to secure systems from within.
In 2023, I returned to manage my own website using that same hosting company. What I encountered wasn’t just poor support—it was a full breakdown of access, accountability, and technical hygiene. My background gave me a unique advantage: I saw everything they tried to hide.
This is the story of what I uncovered, how I documented and remediated it, and what you can do to protect your own site.
What Happened
Over a 16-month period, I logged:
- A complete and sustained denial of access to cPanel
- Unauthorized changes to .htaccess, robots.txt, and server configuration files
- False malware flags used to justify breaking image paths or deleting files
- Firewall rules toggled without notice or explanation
- Email and file manager access removed
- DNS misconfigurations that led to duplicate domains, redirect loops, and deindexing
Worse, every escalation attempt—from support tickets to direct contact with the Office of the CEO—was met with delays, dismissals, or deflection.
What Made This Worse Than Just Bad Support?
I had proof: logs, screenshots, file hashes, timestamped firewall records.
I knew their systems. I helped build them.
I offered to help. I proposed a remediation plan and professional consulting
They didn’t just ignore me—they quietly blocked me further. So, I did what any good security professional does: document, test, and remediate. Where remediation was not possible due to lack of access, such as hosting provider firewall ACLs (Access Control Lists), I continued creating trouble tickets and escalating.
How to Check for These Issues Yourself
Use this quick audit checklist:
- Duplicate listings or deindexed pages in search engines?
- .htaccess or robots.txt changed unexpectedly?
- Image directories (e.g., /images/) not loading?
- Intermittent 403 or 504 errors?
- Lost access to CPanel, File Manager, or Email?
- Redirects or SSL errors you didn’t configure?
- Unknown IPs or unexpected firewall rules?
If you answered yes to any of these, it’s time to investigate further.
What to Do If You Find These Issues
- Document Everything: Screenshots, logs, file timestamps
- Escalate Professionally: Include evidence in your support tickets
- Audit .htaccess and Robots.txt: Restore from backup if tampered
- Check DNS Records: Use a DNS propagation checker
- Confirm Site Ownership: Use WHOIS to back your claim
- Refuse Gaslighting: Demand technical answers, not deflection
- Review Firewall Logs: Look for rule changes or unexpected IP activity
- Bring in Outside Help: Trusted third parties or consultants can validate findings
Why This Matters for Everyone
If this can happen to a former CISO, it can happen to anyone.
Most customers won’t notice misconfigurations until it’s too late. Many won’t know how to retrieve logs or interpret firewall behavior. This isn’t about being technical — it’s about being empowered to protect your work.
Glossary of Terms
.htaccess – Server config file used to manage redirects and access rules
403 Forbidden – HTTP error indicating access is denied
CPanel – Web-based control panel for managing website and hosting settings
DNS – Domain Name System, maps domain names to IP addresses
Firewall Bypass Prevention – Blocks requests that try to bypass the firewall
Malware Flag – Indicator raised by security tools when content appears suspicious
Robots.txt – File used to guide how search engines crawl your site
Shared Hosting – Multiple customers share one server’s resources
Slug – The readable part of a URL (e.g., /my-page)
WAF – Web Application Firewall, filters and protects website traffic
Final Thoughts
I didn’t want to write this. Instead, I wanted to quietly fix the problem, secure the system, and move on.
But after over 20 support tickets, loss of access, repeated 403s, and a wall of silence from support…
I realized the story itself had value.
Have you had issues with your own hosting? Noticed a drop in site metrics and global rank? Did you wonder why, after you had done everything you could to insure content quality, technical SEO, and site stability? You’re not wrong. You’re not alone. And your instincts are probably right: you may have an issue with your hosting.
Don’t despair! Instead, use this article to guide you to a possible solution.
“I wasn’t the vulnerability. I was the patch.”
— Hunter Storm
About the Author
Hunter Storm is a cybersecurity architect, strategist, and former CISO. She specializes in infrastructure protection, ethical incident response, and digital sovereignty. Her work bridges technical mastery with human-centric system design — especially in hostile or uncooperative environments.
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