Hacking Prevention Tips

[iBardia]

Ok, my forum got hacked yesterday, but it was from people in Gaza, and I live in America, so I am pretty sure it wont happen again.

But incase it does, does anyone have any tips or links to tips on how to prevent hacking?
Funny thing is, my forum is about Webkinz World, and opened three months ago. We only have 230 members, and have nothing to do with them at all.

[Sweeks]

Use decent passwords for any admin accounts as well as your server access and use strong database passwords too. Keep vbulletin up to date by getting the latest patch releases/security fixes and gold releases.
________
Herbal Vaporizer

[iBardia]

Well, I have changed the cPanel Password to a bunch of nonsense, but I remember it.

I am running 3.8.0

[UKBusinessLive]

If your password is case sensitive, use both uppercase and lowercase letters.
To make special characters, hold down the Alt button and press numbers on the number pad. Here are some special characters you can use:

Alt+20=?
Alt+15=☼
Alt+21=?
Alt+174=?
Alt+175=?

There are loads more, so experiment.

On a laptop, there are keys on the keyboard with numbers on them in blue, for example 0 on m, 1 on j, etc. hold the key that has the blue letters fn on it or something similar to use this laptop number pad, When using special characters it is recomended if your fn key is on the left to use left alt especially if they are right next to each other like mine, because you will have trouble twisting your hand to push 3 buttons at once.

It is very easy to find that your website has been de-indexed by google and marked with a beware sign due to the malicious actions of hackers and spammers.

Check your website health at http://bad-neighborhood.com, which has a very useful free tool to scan the links on your website, and on the pages that your website is linking to, and flag possible problem areas.

All you do is type in the URL of the home page and the results appear within 90 seconds. These will flag up any sites that could possibly be involved in search engine spamming. You may not be aware of these sites: for example, you could link to a respectable site but they may have links with a site involved in the adult or pharmaceutical fields, and thus harm your website's position.

Good Luck

[Lynne]

<a href="http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=194701" target="_blank">How To Make My Forums More Secure</a>

[Brandon Sheley]

Keep your server and forum updated, don't host your forum on a shared host, get your own box.
And as everyone mentioned, good passwords, and you might want to pass protect the admincp (which you should rename)

[iBardia]

Originally Posted by Loco.M

Keep your server and forum updated, don't host your forum on a shared host, get your own box.
And as everyone mentioned, good passwords, and you might want to pass protect the admincp (which you should rename)

When I tried to rename the Admin CP the footer one wouldn't work.

[Brandon Sheley]

well, you have to rename the folder on the ftp, then you need to rename them in the vboptions.. those footer links should change themselves

[iBardia]

Originally Posted by Loco.M

well, you have to rename the folder on the ftp, then you need to rename them in the vboptions.. those footer links should change themselves

Oh, I didnt do the vB Options.

Thanks!

--------------- Added [DATE]1232236106[/DATE] at [TIME]1232236106[/TIME] ---------------

I changed them.

[Brandon Sheley]

Originally Posted by iBardia

Oh, I didnt do the vB Options.

Thanks!

--------------- Added [DATE]1232236106[/DATE] at [TIME]1232236106[/TIME] ---------------

I changed them.

you're welcome
might try the pass protection as well