Joomla! Web Security

In Detail

Joomla! is one of the most powerful open-source content management systems used to build websites and other powerful online applications. While Joomla! itself is inherently safe, misconfigurations, vulnerable components, poorly configured hosts, and weak passwords can all contribute to the downfall of your site. So, you need to know how to secure your website from security threats.

Today every website needs to take security into consideration. Using the knowledge here, your Joomla! site can be ahead of the security threats so prevalent today.

This book will take you all the way from the most basic steps of preparation to the nuts and bolts of actual protection. It is packed full of relevant and real-world topics such as security tools, configuration suggestions, setting up your test and development environment, reading and interpreting log files, and techniques used by bad hackers on the Internet. In addition to this you will learn how to respond to a site emergency should one occur and how to collect the evidence needed to pursue law enforcement action. The book provides a concise overview of all the parts needed to construct a defence-in-depth strategy for your Joomla! site.

At the end of the book you will have a solid security foundation to take your Joomla! website to a higher level of security than the basic site setup.

What you will learn from this book?

This book covers:

• Implementing steps for successful Joomla! website architecture
• Setting up metrics to measure security
• Exploring the test and development environment; developing your test plan to make sure everything will work as planned
• Utilizing your test and development site for disaster recovery
• Measuring the performance of your software development projects using a software development management system
• Exploring several tools to help protect your website
• Diving into security vulnerabilities: why they exist; some typical counter measures
• Exploring SQL Injections – how they can hurt you and how to prevent them
• Mastering the two important security layers – php.ini and .htaccess
• Reading and analyzing logs relevant to protecting your Joomla! site
• Handling Security Incidents in a professional manner
• Blocking nuisance IP addresses

Approach

This book will give you a strong, hands-on approach to security. It starts out with the most basic of considerations such as choosing the right hosting sites then moves quickly into securing the Joomla! site and servers. This is a security handbook for Joomla! sites. It is an easy-to-use guide that will take you step by step into the world of secured websites.

Who this book is written for?

This book is a must-read for anyone seriously using Joomla! for any kind of business, ranging from small retailers to larger businesses. With this book they will be able to secure their sites, understand the attackers, and more, without the drudging task of looking up in forums, only to be flamed, or not even find the answers.

Prior knowledge of Joomla! is expected but no prior knowledge of securing websites is needed for this book. The reader will gain a moderate to strong level of knowledge on strengthening their sites against hackers.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Let’s Get Started
Chapter 2: Test and Development
Chapter 3: Tools
Chapter 4: Vulnerabilities
Chapter 5: Anatomy of Attacks
Chapter 6: How the Bad Guys Do It
Chapter 7: php.ini and .htaccess
Chapter 8: Log Files
Chapter 9: SSL for Your Joomla! Site
Chapter 10: Incident Management
Appendix: Security Handbook