When most of us browse websites, rarely we try to delve deep into it with regard to how these sites are made accessible to us or the security threats that these websites face on a regular basis. The aim of this article is to shed light upon websites in the context of the most common cyberattacks.
Every website that we have ever visited or used for some purpose, has its data stored on a web server and delivered from there when a web browser program requests for it. These web servers are leased by web hosting companies that provide server space along with the necessary services and technologies for websites to be publicly accessible over the Internet. These web hosting services are of different types such as Windows Hosting, Cloud Hosting etc. Most web hosts provide different types of plans for web hosting. Many web hosts have earned the reputation of being the best Web Hosting Companyby offering high quality of service consistently.
In the context of websites, their security plays a significant role. Web security or cybersecurity detects cyber threats to a website or a web application and ensures an appropriate response to such threats, so that these threats are eliminated as well as their reoccurrence is averted. Web security is a continuous process of constant assessment of cyber threats as well as the security measures that are meant to eliminate these threats. Website security refers to a collection of measures that are taken to secure a website from cyberattacks and is an essential aspect of website management. It ensures the prevention of and protection from phishing schemes, session hijacking, malicious attacks and redirects. These are a few of the many cyber threats that exist. Ensuring adequate web security is important for effective handling of SEO spam, as well as it eliminates to a large extent the risk of data theft. The major reasons for which websites’ vulnerabilities get exploited are to steal information that is stored on the server, to abuse the resources of the server, to trick bots and crawlers and to exploit site visitors.
Now let us touch upon some of the most common website security vulnerabilities and threats, in no particular order. The first one is SQL Injection, which is a type of cyberattack which is achieved by injecting malicious codes in a vulnerable SQL query. In it an attacker adds a specially crafted request within the message that is sent by the website to the database. The database query will be altered by a successful attack in a way that it will return the information that the attacker desires, rather than the information that the website expects. Moreover, it can modify or add information that is malicious to the database.
Another type of cyberattack is Credential Brute Force Attack. It is well-known that one of the most common vectors used to compromise websites is through gaining access to a website’s admin area, control panel or the SFTP server. In Credential Brute Force Attack, the attacker programs a script to try multiple combinations of usernames and passwords, until the one that works is found. Once the attacker is granted access, he can induce many malicious activities. These harmful activities can range from spam campaigns to credit card skimming.
Yet another common type of malicious attack is Cross-site Scripting (XSS). In it malicious client-side scripts are injected into a website and then the website is used as a propagation method. It gives the control to an attacker to inject content into a website which modifies the display of the website. This forces the browser of that website to execute the code provided by the attacker when loading the page. In case, a logged in site administrator loads the code, the script will be executed with his level of privilege. This poses a threat to the site as there is a strong possibility of site takeover.
Last but not the least is a DDoS Attack. DDoS refers to a Distributed Denial of Service attack which is a non-intrusive internet attack. It aims at either taking down the website that it targets or slowing it by flooding the network, application or server with fake traffic. These cyberattacks are very critical in the context of website security. When such an attack takes place, even the most minimum amount of traffic turns out to be sufficient enough for it to succeed.
This article touches upon some of the most common cyber threats in the ever-growing sphere of security threats for websites. It is meant to generate awareness about the potential risk that websites as well as website visitors face constantly. It highlights the importance of web security and serves as a reminder to website owners as well as visitors that when proper security measure are lacking, they are at a huge risk of falling victims to these malicious attacks.
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