Joomla hacks are very common, and in previous versions, there have been many reports of hacking by popular Joomla exploits, especially with Joomla versions lower than 1.57. However, like any other website, there are always some vulnerabilities...
How To Help Prevent Another Hack Attack
Hackers has many ways to attack a website. One way that has worked very well with Joomla 1.55 and lower versions is an exploit software that will decipher the password. This is called ‘brute force’. It is always best to upgrade to the latest version of Joomla, as well as upgrade any plugins and themes.
The length of a password is more important than its complexity. Complexity is so that other people cannot remember your password easily, but a longer password will help prevent brute force software from deciphering your password. Also, Brute force software will assume that your username is ‘admin’, so be sure to change it in the user account manager.
Installing Joomla For Maximum Security
1. When installing Joomla, there are certain security settings that can be tweaked to help boost security: 1. When installing the database, change the ‘.jos’ table prefix to something else.
2. Never use root for the database username. Instead, login to phpmyadmin, and add a new user with all administrator privileges unchecked.
3. Set the database username to the user you added in phpmyadmin.
4. After the installation is complete, change the default username (admin), to a username that cannot easily be guessed.
5. If you are to install any extensions, check the vulnerable extensions list on the Joomla website.
These links will provide you with some assistance:
http://forum.joomla.org/viewtopic.php?f=615&t=740492
http://docs.joomla.org/How_do_you_recover_your_admin_password%3F
