webdevelopmentconsultancy.com

Please note that our documentation is being reviewed due to the release of DMC Firewall for WordPress. The following documentation was written for Joomla! so some of the information will not apply to DMC Firewall for WordPress.

DMC Firewall - What is it?

DMC Firewall is a Joomla Security extension which aids in the protection of your Joomla powered website. DMC Firewall expands on our very successful 'Hacker Beware' script which was developed by Dean Marshall himself.

History of Hacker Beware

Hacker Beware was developed to enhance security within Joomla 1.0. Joomla had standard 'blocking' where if a hacker tried to hack your website, the request was forbidden but didn't block the hacker so they could keep trying. With Hacker Beware installed those hack attempts would be recorded and the IP would be banned so they couldn't access your website which also meant that they couldn't keep attempting to hack your website. Hacker Beware was an external stand-alone script which required the webmaster to upload the script and manually make edits to the '.htaccess' file in order to improve security.

Because Hacker Beware was an external script (out-side of Joomla) - all edits had to be completed via FTP or a File Manager application. It was also tricky to update - granted there was only one key file and edits to the preexisting '.htaccess' file but they had to be done manually. There was also no easy way to view the statistics of prevented attacks - unless you had a look at either the emails that get sent or the log file but that could be time consuming. Many people now-a-days prefer the simpler method - seeing a figure that represents the number of attempts blocked.

DMC Firewall

DMC Firewall brings Hacker Beware up-to-date and easy to manage. DMC Firewall also introduces a number of new features which aid in the protection of your website from notifying you if your Super Administrator accounts have 'weak password', the ability to change your Joomla installations database table prefix, configure the security settings with a couple of clicks on your mouse.

What is the difference between Hacker Beware and DMC Firewall?

The main differences between Hacker Beware (HB) and DMC Firewall are as follows:

Hacker Beware

  • Not installable within Joomla (it was an external script)
  • Hacker Beware required the end user to modify the websites '.htaccess' file
  • You had no way of getting 'general stats' easily
  • To make edits you had to manually edit the Hacker Beware script
  • You only had the options to send or suppress emails
  • On some occasions HB would block search engines such as Google, Bing if they followed a 'hacker link' from an external website
  • There was only a paid version of Hacker Beware

DMC Firewall

  • You can install it within the Joomla Administrator area of your website
  • You don't need to edit files manually (DMC Firewall edits the necessary files automagically)
  • Easy to view statistics
  • Multiple levels of email settings (send no emails, only send errors and send all types of emails)
  • DMC Firewall adds a friendly user interface
  • DMC Firewall enables you to change your table prefix (database) (Pro version)
  • You can easily turn on 'Test Mode' so you don't get yourself banned
  • DMC Firewall has a centralised 'blacklist' system which records all 'harmful' requests
  • DMC Firewall doesn't ban search engines
  • DMC Firewall tells you if you are using a common database prefix
  • DMC Firewall tells you if you are using the default Joomla Super Administrator account
  • You can select which 'Bad Bots' to ban with a click of a button (Pro version bans more 'bad bots' than Core)
  • DMC Firewall has a 'push button' system where you can easily update DMC Firewall
  • DMC Firewall can be downloaded for free (Core version) or purchased (Pro version)
  • DMC Firewall will also tell you if a Super Administrator has a 'weak password'
  • DMC Firewall also secures the login system on your website - preventing hackers from trying thousands of username and password combinations, along with an empty password or where the username doesn't exist (Pro version)
  • Password protect the 'administrator' area (Pro version)

Joomla Version Compatibility

Below is a version compatibility table which lists the different versions of Joomla in which DMC Firewall will function correctly!

Joomla Version Joomla 1.5 Joomla 2.5 Joomla 3.0
Is Compatible NO NO YES

 

PHP Version Compatibility

Below is a version compatibility table which lists the versions of PHP in which DMC Firewall will run on!

PHP Version PHP 5.2 or below PHP 5.3 +
Is Compatible NO YES

 

DMC Firewall Credits

DMC Firewall wouldn't have been possible without Hacker Beware - a script developed by Dean Marshall. We would also like to thank Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos of Akeeba Backup for providing Framework-on-Framework (FOF) and some of the functionality within DMC Firewall.