Security against hackers

[Les Voorhies]

Hi, For several years i've had a forum for rock climbing, we used Postnuke with a phpBB2 module. Over the last year we've had numerous attacks by hackers that recently led to our service provider shutting us down.

My question is, how secure is vbulletin? Are hackers constantly finding vulnerabilities? Since its likely that the hacker(s) that have screwed with us over the last year will continue to look for opertunities we need a secure easily upgradable program and we dont have anyone highly skilled in these programs.

Another question we have is, does vbulletin have a CMS or some kind of portal similar to Postnuke? we have currently installed Joomla and there is a bridge that can be used with vbulletin but we dont really like joomla all that much.

Also, is there good instructional documentation available for vbulletin?

Thanks

[Gaskell]

My question is, how secure is vbulletin? Are hackers constantly finding vulnerabilities? Since its likely that the hacker(s) that have screwed with us over the last year will continue to look for opertunities we need a secure easily upgradable program and we dont have anyone highly skilled in these programs. I have found vBulletin to be brilliant when theres a vulnerability found. Whenever there is one found, a patch is posted quickly in the Announcements forum (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=1) on vB.com. As for numbers, since vB 3.5 came out 8 months ago, there has only been 4 updates released for security. Doesnt sound too bad to me :)

Another question we have is, does vbulletin have a CMS or some kind of portal similar to Postnuke? we have currently installed Joomla and there is a bridge that can be used with vbulletin but we dont really like joomla all that much. I dont know anything about Postnuke, but for vBulletin there is vBAdvanced CMPS (http://www.vbadvanced.com/) that integrates nicely with vB :)

Also, is there good instructional documentation available for vbulletin? Yep, theres the manual here (http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/). If theres something not covered, there will always be someone either here or on vB.com who can help :)

[Marco van Herwaarden]

Hello Les Voorhies,

Thank you for your interest in vBulletin.

I think the answer by Gaskell pretty answers your question.

I could add 1 thing on the point of security. Since most security issues are patched within 24 hours from discoevery, there are hardly any hackers that have the time to make an attack before the issue is closed. I know of hardly any successfull hacks ever on the core vBulletin product.


You might also consider asking at www.vbulletin.com/forum where you can receive an official answer to these questions.

[Les Voorhies]

You might also consider asking at www.vbulletin.com/forum where you can receive an official answer to these questions.

:confused: I guess i'm a little confused, this isnt the official site for vbulletin?

[Billspaintball]

:confused: I guess i'm a little confused, this isnt the official site for vbulletin?
This is the official unofficial vBulletin site :)

The official site is where you have all your running vB questions, bug reports, updates, support(for non modified installations) and so on.

This site is for custom modifications and extensions to vB, for licensed vB users.

Hope that makes it a little clearer. :)

[Marco van Herwaarden]

To clarify this a bit more.

www.vbulletin.com is the official support site for the product vBulletin. Here you will find professional support staff who can advice and help you with the standard product vBulletin.

www.vbulletin.org is a Jelsoft (company behind vBulletin) sponsored site dedicated at customising your vBulletin beyond the standard functionalities. It depends solely on volunteers, from staff to coders and other members helping each other.

[Hornstar]

easily upgradable program and we dont have anyone highly skilled in these programs.

I have used everything from ipb, phpbb and a few others right to the best vbulletin.

Vbulletin has the most easiest way to upgrade from versions and also when you want to install modications, they are really easy, and most of them are a 1 click install and thats it. Because of the fantastic, plugins and extensions.

If you want the best then go for vbulletin. Or search google and look for really good forums, they all use vbulletin because its got the best support and has the best features, that are all so easy to install for the most novice person.

[Les Voorhies]

Thanks for all the info. One last question, we wont be making a decsion untill early June and before then i plan to do the 24hr demo offered by vbulletin, will they allow me to give my admins access to the demo to look around?

[Marco van Herwaarden]

As far as i know that is no problem. If youwant tobe sure, you will have to ask official vBulletin support at vbulletin.com