Website Security is more important today than ever before. Cyber threats are becoming more elusive and frequent. The Joomla CMS itself is reasonably secure, but you should build security into your installation with extensions designed for security to prevent hacking, malware, spam, and data breaches.
This article will examine trusted and reputable Joomla security extensions to uplift the security of your website against basic threats to complex threats.
1. Admin Tools – Akeeba
Admin Tools is best described as a security toolbox for your Joomla website. This extension is a “Swiss Army knife” that offers everything to improve your website security as well as make the administrative process easier.
Key Features:
- Web Application Firewall (WAF) – protects against common attacks like SQL injection and cross-site scripting.
- Blacklist and Whitelist IP Addresses – control who has access.
- Admin Login Protection – secured admin area with optional level of authentication.
- Permissions for files – easily configure the correct file and directory permissions
- Automatic Core Joomla Updates – keep your installation current and patched with automated updates.
Admin Tools is perfect for developers and administrators that want to secure their Joomla installation with minimal effort!
2. RSFirewall!
RSFirewall! is a commercial extension that provides active, real-time protection for Joomla websites. It scans continuously for suspicious files, malicious code, intrusions, etc.
Key Features:
- System Scan for Vulnerabilities and Malware: Provides alerts for potential vulnerabilities.
- Track login attempts and notify of failures: Check on all login attempts.
- Two-factor authentication support: Adds extra security when logging in.
- Regional access blocking options: Block or allow access from certain regions.
- Firewall rules to block malicious traffic: Provides defense before bad traffic ever reaches your site.
RSFirewall! is geared towards website owners who want control over their security protocols.
3. jSecure Authentication
jSecure is a robust add-on that provides an additional layer of security for your Joomla administrator area. You can use jSecure to change your login URL and restrict access based on IP.
Key Features:
- Hide Administrator Login URL: hides the regular login path to the administrator area, making it difficult for others to access your site without any authorization.
- Auto-Block IPs after Failed Login Attempts: offers even more protection against brute-force attacks.
- Two-Step Login Verification: gives you the option to have the second authentication step for additional protection.
- Alerts for Login Attempts and Activity Logs: allows you to keep a log of login attempts for tracking.
jSecure is very effective against brute-force and unauthorized logins, making it a great option to secure your Joomla backend.
4. Akeeba Backup
Akeeba Backup is not a true security solution; however it is an important part of your security plan. It’s Backup allows for a a full site backup of your Joomla site to make sure that you can restore quickly in case of an incident or failure.
Notable Features:
- One Click Site Backups: Simply one click, simple to back up.
- Scheduled Backups with Cloud Services: Scheduled back up options for peace of mind.
- Easy Site Restoration using Backups: Easy restore options if you use backups.
- Custom Filters for File and Database Exclusions: Only back up what you want, exclude specific things from your backups.
- Every secure Joomla site needs a good backup solution – Akeeba Backup is one of the best.
5. jHackGuard
jHackGuard is a free and lightweight plugin created by SiteGrounds to add an additional layer of security to your Joomla backend by input filtering and filtering suspicious activity.
Notable Features:
- XSS, CSRF, and SQL Injection protection: Guard secure site from potentially vulnerable spots.
- Automatically sanitizes user input: A habit of sanitizing any user input.
- Ease of use / Minimal Configuration: Simple plug and play with no learning curve.
This is a great option for those who don’t want complicated for passive protection.
6. SecurityCheck Pro
SecurityCheck Pro offers a complete suite of security tools for Joomla including file monitoring, vulnerability scanning, and firewall protection.
Key highlights:
- File Integrity Monitoring: provides information about changes to files (won’t tell you who made the unauthorized change).
- Real Time Threat Detection: identifies potential threats, notifies you, and accesses a database of malicious files.
- Vulnerability Database with Auto Update: most recent vulnerabilities are updated automatically.
- In depth Security Logs and Alerts: provides full logs for auditing or logging changes, management, and thorough investigation.
SecurityCheck Pro is best for advanced users who want to get the details of vulnerabilities and the underlying issues. SecurityCheck Pro offers much deeper security awareness. Security-Check Pro is a very powerful security solution.
7. Brute Force Stop
Brute Force Stop is a simple yet effective plug-in for protecting your site from brute-force login attempts by limiting the amount of login attempts and sending notifications to admins.
Main Features:
- Blocks Repeat Failed login attempts – The repeat attempts of login access without authorization is disabled and allows no further attack
- Sends Email alerts on Suspicious Logins – Any suspicious login attempts are report to admins for possible breaches
- IP Blacklisting Capabilities – The IP address can be blacklisted for unauthorized access
If your site gets a lot of login attempts, make sure to use Brute Force Stop for login security.
8. OSpam-a-not
OSpam-a-not is a spam fighting plug-in with minimal user disruption. It’s uses invisible anti-spam technologies to protect your Joomla forms from bots.
Main Features:
- Works with Core Contact and Registration Forms – OSpam-a-not will work with Joomla’s built-in forms.
- Blocks Spambots Silently – OSpam-a-not will block spam with no effort from the user
- No CAPTCHA is Required – OSpam-a-not will cause better user experience as there are no captcha’s to annoy your user.
OSpam-a-not, is not only a good anti-spam tool, it provides great user experience while managing spam.
In Closing
Joomla gives you a robust platform for developing safe websites, but you’ll still need to be proactive on security. The extensions listed above include everything from firewalls to logging in protection, to backup, scanning for malware—ensured your Joomla site is protected from evolving online threats.
By employing the appropriate security extensions (and updating your Joomla core and components), you will minimize the risk of hacks, data breaches, and performance risk.
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