Any kind of issue that makes any business prone to web application attack is a major problem and may have detrimental effect on the operations of the business apart from the security of the business being jeopardised.
Understanding web application
Web application may be defined as an application which is served mostly through the http and the https protocol that is mainly serviced from the remote computers acting as the server or the host. The web application attacks may interrupt the operations of the website, inhibit the security as well as the performance of the website and in the worst case, take down the website totally.
Get a copy of The Web Application Hacker’s Handbook: Discovering and Exploiting Security Flaws
Surprisingly, most of the business websites actually have a lot of vulnerabilities. Since the web applications run in the internet browsers, any prospective security flaw in the internet browser may lead to exploitation of these vulnerabilities in web applications and may cause a huge damage to the website of the business. Besides that, a crucial part of being safe is following the internet security tips and using the web properly.
You may be wondering that a web hacker requires a crucial and complex system of the tools required for hacking, but it’s not true. It is very simple. The web hacker just needs internet, an internet browser and an expertise in the domain. In most of the cases, the best defence line is a huge offence- secure coding. Naivety and careless mistakes regarding the development of the web applications may have over whelming effects on the online business.
Most common web application attacks and some tips for keeping the business safe from each of the threats:
Web Application Security, A Beginner’s Guide
Common threats to web applications or web application attack:
Cross-site scripting (XSS)
DDoS Attacks
Cookie Poisoning
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
The Cross Site Scripting is the most common web security vulnerability with various web applications running online being vulnerable to the malicious script. It allows the hackers to inject the client site script into the web pages which are viewed by the other users. Cross site script vulnerability can also be used by the hackers for bypassing access controls that may cause major issues for the users.
Prevention tip- any intelligent Web Application Firewall (WAF) may help in shielding the vulnerabilities, working in sync with behavioural firewall and blocking the dangerous and sophisticated attacks.
DDoS Attacks
DDoS is an abbreviation for denial of service or a distributed denial of service. This threat is mainly an attempt for making a network or a machine resource unavailable to the intended users. It is capable of making the website run incredibly slow or in the worst case, may take it down totally. Various Governmental and corporate websites are hit by the DDoS attacks.
Prevention tip- a well-reviewed and reliable DDoS security tool helps in protecting from the DDoS attacks. There are a number of tools which you may choose from, Fireblade is one of the best tools. But, protection which you choose would depend mainly on your requirements.
The Manager’s Guide to Web Application Security: A Concise Guide to the Weaker Side of the Web
SQL Injection
The SQL injections are also quite serious type of threats on the web. These kinds of attacks take a lot of advantage of the vulnerabilities of the web application for gaining controls of the databases and the information which is present in them. Any kind of web application that has data stores would use the databases for holding information and recalling as and when required. This may include the names, postal addresses, mail IDs, telephone numbers, bank information, credit-card details, and all other types of information which you may want the hacker to get hold of.
Prevention tips
For keeping the database safe, you need to have regular remediation and auditing of the application.It ensuresany kind of vulnerability is discovered as well as dealt with quickly.
Cookie hijacking or poisoning
Cookie hijacking or poisoning may be deceiving as well as tricky though. A lot of web applications employ cookies for saving the information of the users like passwords, account emails and logins.
Cookie hijacking or poisoning lets the attacker modify valid cookie. It also fetches false authorization to the database and information about the other users and steal the information.
Prevention tip
Clearing the stored cookies from the browser helps in ensuring that there’s no data for anyone to steal. You should try to avoid signing up for the websites as well as newsletters which you do not trust and which you think you would not be using again. Regular viruses and malware scan can keep the browser free from all the malicious scripts.
The internet can become a battleground significantly with the number of applications and websites growing day by day. More and more businesses are relying on this source for taking information of their customers. Even banks are now favoring online banking over the high street branches.
So, by taking these suggestions, you can help in reducing the chances of your business and your websites from hackers.
Recent web application attack
Recently, SSL vulnerability has compelled the thought of leaders and developers to phase out weak aspects of the protocol. Implementation of the SSLv3 as well as its exploitable nature has gained its canine acronym POODLE. However, the ability of forcing the users to down grade their encryption to breakable standards revealing their highly sensitive data. So, it’s likely the data was passing through as plain text.
So, this was all about web application attack. Learn more about cyber security tips for your better safety! Hopefully the article helped you a lot. You can also share your own experience regarding web application attack.