Protection against vandalism

[PhilRey]

I have been teaching myself how to create websites ( htmlgoodies.com (http://www.htmlgoodies.com) is great ) so I am a rookie at this. I just recently found this forum and it looks like a great source of information.

I have a question about protecting against website vandalism. A friend of mine told me that it is possible for someone to actually change the content of my pages maliciously. I had been under the impression that a document can only be changed by uploading to the server via FTP which is protected by password. I suppose the password could be guessed, but is there any other way that I would need to protect against?

Do PDF documents have greater protection than a standard HTML document?

I understand these questions may seem novice, but I am trying to soak up as much info as possible.

Thanks,
Phil

[Compguy Pete]

the best way to have a secure website is to have a password of at least 8 charactors with a mix of letters and numbers.

From there PDF's are easily edited with the right tools. I'm sure anyone who would hack into your website would have these tools.

The chances of someone hacking into your site are slim and not something you should worry about.

[PhilRey]

So am I correct in assuming that the only way to modify a document is to get into the FTP server via the password?
Or is there some other way for someone to do this?

[Compguy Pete]

Well I suppose someone with a server password/access could do it but thats on your host's end and not much you can control there.

[PhilRey]

Okay. Thanks for your help.:)