Being an open source CMS, Drupal has millions of worldwide users, with thousands of developers writing code for it. Whether you are a Drupal user, programmer or even a member of the thriving Drupal community, it is essential for everyone to have preliminary knowledge about Drupal Security.
Since the source code is open to everyone, there’s always a chance for new bugs to pop up every now and then. However, the Drupal Security analysts imply years of research, independent Audits from third parties and release patches and updates to eliminate any of such issues. Still, high-security protocols must be implemented at the user’s end too so that there can be no loopholes left for cyber criminals to wiggle through.
Which is why, we hope that you are reading this post – here we have mentioned some quick tips with which you can ensure superior security for your Drupal website. While building a website on Drupal and in order to make it “hack Proof”, it is this knowledge that can come in handy.
You can make use of the following tips in order to make your Drupal site more secure:
- Keep Yourself Updated
- Set Permissions
- Setup Firewall
- Change Passwords
- Independent Security Plan For Modified Modules
- Run Audits
- Get Mollom
- Get in Touch with Drupal Security Team
Drupal Security Best Practice
Drupal is a proven to be the most secure CMS and application framework that stands up to the foremost basic web vulnerabilities within the world to prevent the worst from happening. Drupal is developed, steady, and outlined with strong security in mind.
Drupal core’s form API is vulnerable to certain contributed or custom modules’ forms being defenseless to wrong input validation. This might allow an attacker to infuse disallowed values or overwrite code and data. Affected forms are exceptional, but in certain cases, an attacker may modify critical or sensitive information.
Keep Yourself Updated
The simplest and the easiest step that you can undertake, to ensure that all the doors and windows to your Drupal Site are closed, is to keep yourself updated. Having the newest versions of the contributed modules and the Drupal Core make your site security hard to bypass.
Set Permissions
Making an account on a website should only be in consent to the administrator. You need to set permissions to make an account on your website.
Setup Firewall
You would also need to setup firewall settings for your web server and a database server which also limit the unauthorized accessibility to your website.
Keep Your Apps Secure on Cloud
Cloudways offers 2FA, free SSL, and more advanced security features on managed servers that keep your application safe.
Change Passwords
Make sure that once in every 90 days you change the passwords for your Drupal users, admins, FTP, database and other important accounts.
Independent Security Plan For Modified Modules
You need to set up an independent security plan for all the modules which you have modified until any future release or patch for those modules arrive.
Run Audits
There are certain independent online tools that audit your Drupal website to give you a firsthand knowledge about any bugs or future security loopholes that may occur. Example; Acunetix, Nikto, Skipfish etc.
Get Mollom
Web sites that encourage interaction between the readers and authors in the form of comments, posts and messages are the most successful. It is an essential activity that develops your own online community and makes your message or posts viral. However, moderation in this, too, is necessary. This is where Mollom comes in.
Mollom helps you fight spam and other unauthorized access problems via CAPTCHA text analysis. Some key features of Mollom are:
• Blocks spammy comments on any node, articles, pages, forum topics etc.
• Blocks contact form Spam.
• Protects the original user registration/subscription from fake user accounts.
• Protects user’s password request form
Get In Touch With Drupal Security Team
Drupal Security team is one of the best that is out there. They work round the clock to make sure that Drupal isn’t K.Oed by every hacker. If you spot any weakness or a security loophole in Drupal source code you can too report it to [email protected]. So that they can review the Code for any potential threat and provide assistance in resolving the issue.
Bottom-Line The aforementioned tools can surely be your guide to having a “Hack Free” Drupal Website. However, if you know some other best practices to safe guard Drupal, we would love to hear them. Please comment below your experiences in keeping Drupal Safe and Secure.
Shahzeb Ahmed
Shahzeb is a Digital Marketer with a Software Engineering background, works as a Community Manager — PHP Community at Cloudways. He is growth ambitious and aims to learn & share information about PHP & Laravel Development through practice and experimentation. He loves to travel and explore new ideas whenever he finds time. Get in touch with him at [email protected]