Protect Yourself Against the Most Common Website Security Attacks
We spend a great deal of time writing about ransomware and security breaches that often access your network through infiltrating your email domain. Phishing campaigns are so common these days and the number one way networks get hacked. However, every website on the Internet is somewhat vulnerable to security attacks as well. How aware are you of your website security?
Each malicious attack on your website has its specifics, and with a range of different types of attacks going around, it might seem impossible to defend yourself against all of them. However, you can take steps to secure your website against these attacks and it starts with understanding what the common website security attacks are.
- Cross-Site Scripting; This XSS attack accounts for about 40% of all website attacks and targets the users of a site instead of the web application itself. You can protect your website against XSS attacks by setting up a web application firewall.
- Injection Attacks: Known as the highest risk factors for websites and target the website and the server’s database directly. The attacker inserts a piece of code that reveals hidden data and user inputs, enables data modification and generally compromises the application. The only protection is a secure codebase system or using a third-party authentication workflow to outsource your database protection.
- Fuzz Testing: Attackers conduct fuzz testing via a software tool to find vulnerabilities within your website to exploit. The best way to protect against a fuzz attack is by keeping your security and other applications updated and patched.
- Zero-Day Attack: Two angles an attacker can take for this type of attack. The first case is if the attackers can get information about an upcoming security update, they can learn where the loopholes are before the update goes live. The other way is if a cybercriminal can get access to the patch information and target users who haven’t yet updated their systems.
- Path Traversal: A more rare type of attack that targets the web root folder to access unauthorized files or directories outside of the targeted folder. The only protection is to build your codebase so that any information from a user isn’t passing to the filesystem APIs.
- DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service): This attack temporarily or permanently disables your system by overloading it. You will need to manage your traffic by using Content Delivery Network (CDN), a load balancer, and scalable resources. You should also deploy a Web Application Firewall.
- Man-in-the-Middle Attack: Common amongst unencrypted sites where an attacker can intercept sensitive information between 2 parties. The solution is to install a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate on your site.
- Brute Force Attack: A very easy attack where the cybercriminal accesses the login information of a web application. Smart password management and Multi-factor authentication are key to your protection here.
- Unverified Codes: This is a brutal attack where an application has hidden a malicious string inside the code or unknowingly left a backdoor. You then incorporate the “infected” code to your site, and then it’s executed or the backdoor exploited. The effects can range from simple data transfer to getting administrative access to your site. The only real protection is making sure you keep your backend software and codes patched and secure.
- Phishing Attacks: As I mentioned above, this is the most common social engineering cybercrime and the most popular tool used is email. User training for signs to watch out for is the only defense against phishing scams.
I am sure there are many of these common website security attacks you have not heard of until today. That should scare you since I only listed 10 out of the thousands that exist.
2W Tech is a technology service provider that specializes in Security solutions. Give us a call today and let us review your Security solutions stack and best practices with you to ensure your organization is taking all the necessary steps to protect yourselves from outside threats.
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