Support

Admin Tools

#13135 What should I be aware of

Posted in ‘Admin Tools for Joomla! 4 & 5’
This is a public ticket

Everybody will be able to see its contents. Do not include usernames, passwords or any other sensitive information.

Environment Information

Joomla! version
n/a
PHP version
n/a
Admin Tools version
n/a

Latest post by nicholas on Thursday, 02 August 2012 05:08 CDT

Thursday, 02 August 2012 03:58 CDT

user63100
Hey Nicholas!!

First of all I would like to give you a thumbs up on Admin tools... Not because its a magnificent security component, nor because it has a great value for money! Its because it gives you a piece of mind!
Keep up the good work my friend!

Now I have a few questions I'd like to ask about it, and forgive my ignorance if I haven't read something on the support pages. I approximately get 60-200 emails of potential threats or spammers or other attacks. According to your expertise, which attacks are more "dangerous"? I run admin tools on systems ranging from 1.5.XX to 2.5.X and I think I have gotten all the threats possible.. Also I have been hacked numerous times (before installing Admin tools) but majorly with front page defacement.

When I get ip blocking notifications should I do something else or should I maintain my piece of mind?

And one final question.. Is there anything more I can do in terms of security, apart from admin tools and keeping extensions up to date?

Thanks a lot
Raphael Aretakis

Thursday, 02 August 2012 05:08 CDT

nicholas
Hello Raphael,

THank you for your kind words!

According to my experience the majority of all attacks you will see are not really dangerous. They are script kiddies trying off-the-shelf "hacking" scripts. Those scripts target specific and usually outdated versions of various CMS and their extensions. Script kiddies are using them indiscriminately. I've seen scripts targeting DotNetNuke ran against my own site when it's clearly not a .NET site :D The best approach to dealing with those attacks is enabling the automatic IP ban feature of Admin Tools.

Regarding protecting your site, I would suggest a multi-tier approach. Admin Tools is a good start. Using the .htaccess Maker is a very good idea. Having an automated PHP file scanning (like the one offered in Admin Tools) is an extremely good idea. Being hosted on a secure server which makes it impossible for other sites to write to your site is mandatory. I know, that sounds self-understood but it is not. You'd be surprised. For more information please take a look at the Unhacking Your Site walkthrough.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Support Information

Working hours: We are open Monday to Friday, 9am to 7pm Cyprus timezone (EET / EEST). Support is provided by the same developers writing the software, all of which live in Europe. You can still file tickets outside of our working hours, but we cannot respond to them until we're back at the office.

Support policy: We would like to kindly inform you that when using our support you have already agreed to the Support Policy which is part of our Terms of Service. Thank you for your understanding and for helping us help you!