STONYISLAND.

RU
Website Audit, Vulnerabilities and Recommendations

 Old and outdated extensions installed: This is the top and most common reason behind
a hacked Joomla website. Always keep all extensions up-to-date, and if you’re using an
extension that is no longer supported, then try to find an alternative. If not, have a
developer look at that extension to ensure it has no vulnerability issues. There are few
outdated ones such as JoomShopping that create loop holes for hackers.

 SSL certificate (HTTPS) is not enforced: Https should be enforced when anyone opens
non-secure URL.

 Get up-to-date, Stay up-to-date: All themes, modules and plugins should be up to date.

 Enhance the security of sensitive files like htaccess, configuration.php etc

 Enhance the security of ftp credentials and database users

 Check you server logs for IP's calling suspicious files or attempting POST commands to non-
form's

 Protect Against Brute-force: Consider adding a bot block list to your .htaccess file

 Delete all unused modules and plugins.

 Do not enable or use anonymous ftp accounts for any reason.

 If you are using a nulled theme, better get a legal and paid version because nulled themes
contain malicious stuff.

 Clean up a code injection attack: If you notice strange behavior from your pages, or if
you see injected keywords or other types of spam in your content.

How to clean up a code injection attack:

https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/website/hacks/clean-up-code-injection-
attack

 Check your PHP version to make sure it is secure.

Stonyisland is running on PHP version 5.4.16 which is extremely outdated and hence
vulnerable.
 https://www.cvedetails.com/version/149817/PHP-PHP-5.4.16.html

Currently supported PHP versions

Conclusion:

So, there are two possible solution for this problem statement. As far as my findings, the main
reason is outdated stuff (theme, extension, modules etc.). Enhance the security by making a
checklist of above mentioned points. https://forum.joomla.org/viewtopic.php?f=621&t=582854

Everything should be up-to-date while using Joomla or any other CMS or it creates loopholes.
The second solution will be to create a custom portal using secure PHP frameworks like Laravel
to eliminate the above-mentioned risks.