In the last decade, a lot of people have utilized the Web to communicate and conduct business with their customers. This includes web applications that collect and store data. This includes customer information supplied through content management systems, online shopping carts, inquiry forms or login fields.
These applications are often accessible via the Internet and are able to be hacked to exploit weaknesses within the application or its supporting infrastructure. SQL injection attacks that exploit weaknesses in databases, could compromise databases that contain sensitive information. Attackers can leverage the foothold they gain through compromising your Web application to find other, more vulnerable systems in your network.
Other commonly used Web attacks include Cross Site Scripting attacks (XSS) that exploit vulnerabilities in the web server to inject malicious code into web pages, it executes as an infected program in the victim’s browser. This allows attackers to gain access to confidential information or redirect users to phishing websites. Web forums, message boards and blogs are particularly vulnerable to XSS attacks.
Hackers work together to overwhelm a website by sending more requests than the site can handle. This can cause a website to lag or even cease to function completely. This can affect the ability of the website to process requests, and makes it inaccessible to all. DDoS attacks can be devastating for small businesses, such as local bakeries or restaurants that depend on their websites for operation.
