Over the past decade, millions of businesses have embraced web applications as an inexpensive way to build relationships and transactions with prospects and customers. But while they provide the opportunity for greater customer insight and efficiency, web applications also have vulnerabilities that can be exploited by cybercriminals. One of the most common and devastating of these is a web attack.
A web attack is a type of a cyberattack where the attacker takes on the persona of another to gain access to sensitive information or perform malicious activities such as taking credit card numbers or other personal information. Web attacks are typically characterized by SQLi (Structured Query Language Injection), XSS (cross-site scripting) and file upload attack.
In a SQLi attack hackers input custom Structured Query Language commands into a web application or website field to steal private information stored on the database server behind. In an XSS, hackers inject malicious code into a website or website, which is then executed by the victim’s browser with no validation or encoded. The attack could hijack the user’s session, display non-authorized images or texts or redirect them to a fraudulent website.
The best method to safeguard against a web attack is to run regular vulnerability scans and apply patches to your website as well as its web servers and any other databases that are underlying. It is also a good idea to create an incident response plan to ensure that in the event of an attack it can be swiftly recognized and handled. Also, ensure that you know how to detect an attack on your website through warning indicators like slowing of network speeds or intermittent website shutdowns.