With an average cost of USD 4.45 million for data breaches, the gravity of website security threats cannot be overstated.
These attacks result in financial losses due to customer attrition, downtime, and disruptions and undermine customer trust.
The rising numbers, increasing scale, sophistication, and impact of website security threats underline the necessity for proactive prevention measures.
This article delves into 5 of the most common threats today and ways to prevent them.
The ransomware attack is among the top security threats to websites and web applications. Ransomware is malware that leverages encryption to take control of systems/ applications/ devices and hold the victim’s information/ files/ data at ransom. The attacker demands a ransom to decrypt the files and enable access to the systems/ apps/ devices.
Ransomware is spread using phishing techniques, domain spoofing, malicious websites, email attachments, malvertisements, etc. Ransomware could also be dropped onto vulnerable systems using exploit kits.
According to a Global Ransomware Report, the frequency of these website security threats is persisting at an unprecedented rate, with a notable 11% increase in global ransomware attacks during Q3 2023 compared to Q2. Furthermore, the year-over-year (YoY) comparison reveals a staggering 95% rise in ransomware attack occurrences.
In recent years, another common web application security threat has been supply chain attacks, which occur when an attacker infiltrates your application through an external partner such as a SaaS company, vendor, etc.
These attacks target the weakest links in the chain of trust of the organization. The attacker can compromise thousands of customers by breaching the organization’s application/ system.
One of the primary reasons for the upsurge in these website security attacks is the disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the need to go remote, adopt cloud computing, and quickly transform their tech stack, organizations sought third-party service providers for solutions that weren’t sufficiently researched and tested.
The most common types of supply chain attacks are:
Over the past few years, organizations have moved much of their infrastructure to the cloud to ensure business continuity and adapt to hybrid work models. These cloud models are evolving and accelerated, creating security gaps and vulnerabilities attackers can easily leverage.
Cloud-based attacks pose a significant and evolving threat to the security of websites hosted on cloud platforms. One prevalent risk is the potential for data breaches from insecure configurations, mismanaged permissions, and vulnerabilities in cloud interfaces and APIs. Attackers may exploit weaknesses to gain unauthorized access, leading to the exposure of sensitive information.
Some of the common cloud-based web security attacks are:
DDoS attacks are a type of cyberattack where multiple compromised computers are used to flood a target system with traffic, overwhelming its resources and causing service disruptions. The impact of a DDoS attack is not limited to the hosting environment; it affects the target website or online service itself.
Whether a website is hosted on traditional on-premises servers, in a cloud environment, or on a CDN, it can be susceptible to DDoS attacks. The attack aims to exhaust the target’s resources, such as bandwidth, server capacity, or network connections, making the website slow or entirely unavailable for legitimate users.
DDoS attacks come in various types, each aiming to overwhelm a website or online service. Common types of DDoS attacks include volumetric attacks that flood the target with massive traffic, protocol attacks exploiting weaknesses in network protocols, and application layer attacks targeting specific website functionalities.
Additionally, DDoS attacks can be amplified through reflection or amplification techniques, making them even more potent and challenging to mitigate. Follow these DDoS protection best practices to minimize the impact of DDoS attacks.
Malicious code attacks encompass malware and harmful scripts consisting of lines of computer programming commands to exploit or create technical vulnerabilities. While social engineering addresses the human side of web threats, malicious code represents the technical facet. These threats involve a range of techniques, including:
Protecting a website from security threats requires a comprehensive approach that addresses various vulnerabilities. Here are key measures to enhance website security:
Combining these measures allows you to defend robustly against various security threats and create a safer online environment for users and sensitive data. Regular monitoring and adaptation to emerging threats are essential to an effective website security strategy.
A WAF is a security solution designed to safeguard web applications by analyzing and filtering HTTP traffic between a web application and the internet. It acts as a barrier, identifying and neutralizing cyber threats in real time.
Functioning as a protective shield, the WAF thoroughly examines both incoming and outgoing web traffic, effectively identifying and blocking potential threats before they can reach the website or applications.
AppTrana WAAP protects against intrusions leveraging SQL injection, cross-site scripting, local file inclusion, and various attack types. It empowers you to counteract malicious clients exploiting vulnerabilities in your APIs and web applications.
WAAP excels in mitigating SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and other injection attacks. Scrutinizing input data and blocking malicious code injections prevents unauthorized access to sensitive information.
Effectively detecting and thwarting attempts by botnets to exploit vulnerabilities, WAAP ensures the neutralization of automated attacks, including those aiming to accelerate spam campaigns or launch malware attacks.
In the face of DDoS, WAAP serves as a frontline defense by filtering and absorbing malicious traffic, ensuring your website remains available and responsive to legitimate users.
Moreover, WAAP plays a crucial role in identifying and blocking harmful scripts and malware. By inspecting and filtering the content of web requests and responses, they protect against various forms of malicious code introduced through compromised devices or insecure interfaces.
The WAF rules and policies can be tailored to meet the organization’s needs, specifications, and context to ensure adequate protection. This is important because no two organizations are the same – they have unique challenges, security risks, systems, business logic, vulnerabilities, etc. And so, website security threats do not impact them the same way.
While adopting the best-in-the-breed technology, certified security experts manage the WAF solution. These experts help build policies with surgical accuracy, conduct pen-testing to unearth unknown vulnerabilities, analyze and make sense of security data, provide recommendations to improve security, etc.
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This post was last modified on January 22, 2024 11:55
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