Understanding the Security Ecosystem Terminology for Joomla Hosting
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Posted On :
Aug-16-2010
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Article Word Count :
723
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One of the essential steps to understanding the security ecosystem for Joomla Hosting is being familiar with several key components of a secure site: physical security, network security, applications and services, the host/user account and Joomla.
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A practical way to achieve secure software is to understand the security ecosystem. If your website is not secure, it is vulnerable to hackers, fraud, identity theft, or worse. In order for a site to be secure, action is required on your part and on the part of your host in several areas of your security ecosystem.
One of the essential steps to understanding the security ecosystem for Joomla Hosting is being familiar with several key components, or terms, of a secure site:
Physical Security
Secure server facilities: An often overlooked aspect of site security, ID Verified Access cards, Biometric Scanners, Man-traps at all access points, CCTV, SAS70 compliance (Type I, Type II)
Network Security
Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS): network security appliances that monitor network and/or system activities for malicious activity. The main function of the IPSs are to identify malicious activity, log information about said activity, attempt to block it, and then report the activity.
Core Network Infrastructure: Ensure routers/switches are always kept up-to-date with security related firmware updates (Cisco IOS). This infrastructure also defines secure policies for the entire network.
Applications and Services
OS Kernel Updates: Package management system that is built from the source, utilizes Ksplice for seamless live binary patching.
Suhosin: Stops certain known and unknown exploit attempts, limits number of vars in request methods to prevent resource exhaustion DoS attacks, and stops resource abuser by other accounts on the same server.
Mod Security: Blocks known and unknown exploit attempts in all HTTP request methods, first line of defense against common attacks, defines custom rules on the fly to block emerging threats that match specific patterns in a request.
Open_basedir: Can be paired with suPHP to further protect users, stops PHP processes from opening files outside of the specified base directory, does not directly stop PHP process from launching other processes.
Host/ User Account
File Permissions: A secure, shared environment with suPHP will require 755 permissions on directories and 644 on files. Nothing higher is required. Unless you are a single-user or in an unshared, dedicated server situation, you should never use 777 permissions because they can potentially leave your account open to reads/writes from other users on the server outside of the PHP environment. This includes malicious users who may compromise other insecure accounts on the server.
Sever Level Password Protection: For network security, require HTTP "Basic Authentication" in addition to the backend authentication mechanism provided by your CMS script.
Follow secure practices when choosing account passwords for your server's control panel, FTP, and SSH accounts: Random character should be 10+ characters in length. Avoid storing FTP and control panel passwords in popular FTP Applications and built in password managers in most browsers.
Block HTTP access to potential targets for malicious users: Move/ TMP and other temporary directories written to by your scripts above your account’s HTTP Document Root.You should also alternately block HTTP access to thse directories via Apache directives (.htaccess) or equivalent.
Joomla!
FTP Layer: Built in to Joomla! 1.5 as a work-around to ownership issues when uploading/installing extensions from the backend on non-suPHP servers.
Updates: The most critical security measures you can take to stay secure.
Extensions: Always check the Joomla! Vulnerable Extensions List (VEL) for potential issues.
3rd party security extensions: Will increase resource usage (CPU/memory) for incoming hits to your site, sometimes significantly.
Finding a Secure Joomla Hosting Company
When you need to find a secure Joomla hosting company, you should find a fully-compatible, performance-tuned host who specializes in high quality business hosting for Joomla. Rochen hosts, owns and manages all of their own servers and hosting infrastructure, and upholds the most stringent security requirements for Joomla hosting.
Rochen masterfully hosts Joomla-powered websites right out of the box without any configuration hassles or permissions-related problems. Their performance-tuned and purpose-built platform is seamlessly secured for websites who require specialized Joomla hosting.
Easily install and manage your Jooml hosting account with Rochen, a web hosting leader for businesses and webmasters throughout the United Kingdom and United States. If you are looking for high quality, reliable and completely secure Joomla hosting service for your site, then Rochen is your answer.
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Article Source :
http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Understanding the Security Ecosystem Terminology for Joomla Hosting_29343.aspx
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Author Resource :
Heather Preston. joomla hosting - Easily install and manage your Joomla hosting account on Rochen Host, a web hosting leader for businesses and webmasters.
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Keywords :
joomla hosting ,
Category :
Computers
:
Computers
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