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It is shocking but one of the easiest ways for hackers and defacers to get hold of your site and mess it up, is simply to do a Google search to see if any vulnerable component strings come up.
For example, if you are not using some type of Search Engine Friendly (SEF) utility, your URL strings will look something like this:
http://www.your......site.co.za//index.php?option=com_potentially_vulnerable_component&Itemid=30
So as you can see, if you are NOT using a form of SEF urls, then it just makes it so much easier for hackers to see exactly which components you are using, and they can easily see if you are using a component that might not be that secure.
We recommend that you use a SEF URL utility - but which one? Here is a quick overview of the various options available:
- OpenSEF/NUSEF
- Artio
- SEF Advance
- s404SEF
OpenSEF/NUSEF (NUSEF is the rescue of the OpenSEF component, that was abandonded by its developer)
Advantages:
- Free
- Works well out of the box, does not create duplicate URLs due to ItemID problems
- Low in terms of resources
- Add-on tools (e.g. Google Sitemap)
- Ability to exclude/include components
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Disadvantages:
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The OpenSEF developer quit the project and for a time the future of project development was in balance. In fact, the future of project development is still unsure since no new releases have been released since the project was taken over and re-released as NUSEF
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Inability to remove ‘category’ from URL
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It sometimes messes up! The Joomla! core code has something that is called an ItemID, and this ItemID sometimes causes duplicate URLs to be generated. It just depends on your settings and sometimes some 'manual intervention' is required if the page does not display the way that you want to
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Doesn’t work with JoomFish
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Artio
Advantages:
- Free
- Works with lots of components (incl Joomfish)
- Works on Windows Servers
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Disadvantages:
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Created duplicate URLs due to the ItemID problem
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Inserts advertisements for Artio into the meta data
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Possible performance problems on large sites.
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SEF Advance
Advantages:
- Been around for ever – strong support
- Supports a large number of components
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Disadvantages:
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s404SEF
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New kid on the block - although it is based on a previous component called 404SEF.
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Very positive reviews
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Seems to handle ItemIDs OK
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Can set individual settings for various components.
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Works with Joomfish
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Can flatten the whole structure by leaving out the section AND the category from the URL - ideal for smaller sites
All of these components can be found on the Extensions site (except for SEF Advance - you can find SEF Advance on the developer's site on http://www.sakic.net/products/sef_advance/
To install and utlize them, you need to have mod-rewrite enabled on your Apache server, and you must remember to rename your htaccess.txt file to .htaccess (yes, this is a file without a name and just with an extension of 'htaccess'.
You also need to switch on the Joomla internal Search Engine Friendly URLs. You will find this under the Global Configuration option, on the 'SEO' tab.
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