Development is now complete on the newest release of my SSL SecureForm service. I’m going to keep it in beta for the next couple of weeks before launching it officially, but any clients interested in trying it out are welcome to request an account.  If so, please submit a low-priority ticket at my help desk with a subject that reads ‘SecureForm v3 Account’.

This new version is essentially an entirely new system that is based on a modified version of MachForm by Appnitro Software.  In addition to secure form processing over SSL, it now  allows companions to build, edit or delete their own booking/contact forms. It also encryptes individual form data and stores it in your own client account database. This feature allows companions to selectively choose which parts of a submission are forwarded to an off-server (and potentially insecure) email address. Full details on how this works can be found at SecureCompanion.com.

Feature Highlights:

• SSL Secured Connection
  Form data is transmitted from your visitor’s browser to the server over an encrypted, SSL secured connection.
• Data Encryption
  All text field data is stored in encrypted format using an Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Data is only shown in decrypted format when you login to your client portal.  Raw, unencrypted data is never stored on the server.
• Customizable Email Delivery
  Full control over where submission notices are sent for each form and which form fields are included with that email.
• Multiple Forms
  Companions are now able to create as many forms as they need for their business. The system provides the html coded needed to link to or embed that form into your web page.
• Easy Form Editing
  Visual editor that allows you to add, edit or remove fields within your form using a simple drag-n-drop logic. No html knowledge is needed
• Mobile Friendly Version
  When accessed by a mobile device, your visitors will automatically be switched to the mobile-friendly version of your form.

Availability

This service is available and included at no additional cost to my design clients. However, once the system is out of beta, I will be making it available on a fee-based schedule to outside companions who are interested in secure contact form processing for their website. For security and quality control, I will limiting account eligibility to companions who meet the following requirements:

• Independent Companions Only
  You must be an Independent companion or sensual touch provider. SecureForm is currently not available to Agencies.
• Professional Website and Domain
  You must have your own professional website and domain name. Directory listing pages or free websites with a generic domain are ineligible.
• Safe Screening Practices
  You must employ at least one type of screening method when booking new appointments.

If you meet the above eligibility requirements and would like to apply for an account, you can do so by filling out the SSL SecureForm Application.

Costs For Non-Design Clients

This fee schedule only applies to companions whose website I did not design.

There is no cost for the initial two weeks of service.  This provides companions with the option of canceling their SecureForm service before the first billing.

Domain Name Renewals: $5/year increase

My annual fee for domain name renewals  is increasing from $10/year to $15/year.  The reason for this price increase is that the actual renewal fee I pay to the registrar is usually above the flat $10 I charge to clients.  Also, by acting as a proxy and using my business name for the registration – I end up spending extra time dealing with spam or harassment emails from people who target the administrative contact of a given domain.  This $5 increase covers the full renewal I pay to the registrar and also the extra time I spend on domain management.  Keep in mind that my fee is still less than what you would pay for a domain with privacy service added.

Companions are still welcome to register and maintain their own domain names – but for those who wish me to register a domain on their behalf, this renewal fee increase will be taking place immediately.  This fee increase only applies to renewals after the first year of service.  The initial domain name registration (and first year of service) is still free with my standard design service.

Hosting Renewal: $15/year increase

Due to the additional monthly expenses of the upgraded server hardware, I have decided to increase my annual hosting renewal from $120/year to $135/year.  As it is for the domain name renewal above, this increase only applies to renewal fees after the first free year included with my design fee.

As posted via Twitter, I’m in the process of moving my online knowledgebase to a new system.  I haven’t had time yet to transfer over all of the articles, so please feel free to email if you have any CMS or hosting related questions not currently covered.

I am also fairly sure that I will be switching to the ticketing system bundled with the new help desk software.  It has many more customization options than the one in my billing system and I like the fact that ladies don’t need to login before opening a ticket.  Between your hosting cPanel, VedaCMS and the client billing area…I know it can be confusing to keep track of so many separate logins.

The new ticketing system would simply email you a ticket ID that you can input to view or update your ticket.  The email also contains a direct link to your ticket so you don’t have to manually type in the ticket ID from the help desk.  If you forget your ticket ID or delete the email…you can simply enter your email address and the system will send you the IDs (and diret links) of any tickets you have open.

I’m going to work on the design over the weekend (I’m customizing so it looks similar to my billing system) and will  probably send out notice of the official switch Monday.   I will also transfer any tickets still open in the billing system to the new ticketing system.  To avoid confusion on where to submit tickets…I’ll be removing the ‘Support’ tab within the client billing area.

There have been a few questions about the server upgrade, which made me realize I didn’t really explain the process very clearly.   So I’ve outlined that information below, with additional details concerning the most recent delay on the upgrade.

Read more…

As posted on my Twitter feed yesterday, the server is being upgraded to a better spec system.  We’re going from a dual-core/2GB box to a quad-core/8GB setup.  I’m pretty excited about the upgrade, as there will be significantly more procesing power available to companions.

The upgrades were to have taken place yesterday, but were delayed after discovering several accounts with insecure scripts installed.  A couple of these scripts were exploited and allowed a malicious user to upload a folder with dozens of interior junk pages to many accounts on the server.

So I spent from yesterday afternoon until 3AM this morning manually going through each account to clean them up and take an inventory of what scripts were present.  I found several accounts that had uploaded 3rd party scripts that did NOT come through me first.

Read more…