The security of our customers has always been a top priority. As part of our ongoing commitment to protect your websites from malicious threats, we are proud to introduce ModSecurity across our hosting infrastructure. This powerful, rule-based web application firewall (WAF) is now enabled by default on all Linespace-hosted websites.

Whether you run a WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, PrestaShop, or any other web application, ModSecurity is now actively working in the background to protect your web property from a wide range of attacks.

What is ModSecurity?

ModSecurity is an open-source web application firewall (WAF) designed to protect your website from various online threats. It acts as a security layer between the user and your server, inspecting incoming requests and outgoing responses for suspicious activity.

When a request is received, ModSecurity analyzes it against a set of pre-configured security rules. If it passes, the request is processed normally by the web server. If it fails, ModSecurity triggers predefined actions, such as blocking the request, logging it, or temporarily banning the offending IP address.

Atomic Rule Sets for Comprehensive Protection

We’ve configured ModSecurity using the Atomic ModSecurity Rule Sets—an industry-standard set of rules maintained by security experts. These include protection against

• SQL Injection Attacks
• Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
• Remote and Local File Injections
• Command Injection Attempts

These rules automatically mitigate common web vulnerabilities that attackers often exploit.

What Happens When a Rule is Triggered?

If a user request violates one or more security rules, ModSecurity will take action depending on the rule and your configured mode. You may see an error like this:

Your request got filtered out due to possible security issues.
One or more things in your request were suspicious (defective request header, invalid cookies, bad parameters).

Additionally, you can get more context by checking the Attack Stats in your hosting control panel:

• IPs Tab: Lists IP addresses that triggered rules
• URLs Tab: Shows which parts of your site were targeted
• Messages Tab: Details which specific rules were triggered, including their IDs

Example: Handling False Positives

Sometimes a legitimate user action may be flagged incorrectly—a “false positive.” For example, if you or your users make 10 failed login attempts to WordPress within one minute, ModSecurity might trigger a rule to block that IP for 60 minutes:

[id=900011] IP address blocked for 60 minutes, more than 10 login attempts in 1 minute.

To disable this specific rule (if deemed a false positive), follow these steps:

1. Open Attack Stats for the affected domain.
2. Go to the Messages tab and find the rule ID.
3. Edit or create a .htaccess file in your domain root folder.
4. Add the following snippet:

<IfModule mod_security2.c>
  SecRuleRemoveById 900011
</IfModule>

Repeat this process for any additional rules you wish to disable selectively.

ModSecurity Modes Available

There are three modes in which ModSecurity can operate:

1. Active Mode (Recommended): Actively blocks threats based on rules.
2. Detect-Only Mode: Logs potential threats but does not block them—ideal for testing.
3. Not Active: ModSecurity is turned off for the domain or subdomain.

You can configure the mode per domain/subdomain via the Linespace control panel.

Why This Matters

Cyber threats are growing in complexity and frequency. From bot-driven brute force attacks to zero-day file injection attempts, no application is immune. With ModSecurity in place, Linespace provides an additional layer of automated protection, giving you peace of mind and reducing your operational burden.

By enabling ModSecurity by default, we ensure:

• Stronger defense against known vulnerabilities
• Better visibility into malicious traffic
• Fine-grained control over rule enforcement
• Minimal impact on application performance

With ModSecurity, we’re strengthening the Linespace hosting ecosystem against modern web threats. This is just one part of our broader mission to deliver secure, scalable, and developer-friendly platforms for growing businesses, creators, and developers.

If you’re managing a WordPress blog, running an e-commerce store with PrestaShop, or deploying a custom web application—ModSecurity is now your first line of defense.