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 in which the attacker pretends to be another person to gain access to sensitive information or carry out malicious actions, like taking credit card numbers, or other what is web attack personal data. Common types of web attacks include Structured Query Language injection (SQLi), cross-site scripting (XSS) and file upload attacks.
In a SQLi attack, hackers input customized Structured Query Language commands into a website or web app field to steal private data stored on the database server behind. Similar to an XSS attack hackers insert malicious code into websites or web apps that the victim’s browser automatically executes without confirmation or encoding. The attack could steal session details, display unauthorized images or text, or redirect the victim to a fake website.
The best method to safeguard against a cyber attack is to run regular vulnerability scans and apply patches to your website and web servers, and any underlying databases. It’s also a good idea to create an incident response plan to ensure that any attack is quickly identified and addressed. Also, ensure that you are aware of ways to spot an attack on your website by observing warning signs like network slowdowns or intermittent shutdowns of websites.