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Is your business ready to combat the most prevalent web security threats? There are a set number of controls that security teams can put in place to secure a web application in production. Still, there is no cap on the number of attack vectors that attackers can use to compromise online applications. Businesses are slowly realizing that spam filtering and antivirus software alone cannot safeguard their technical infrastructure from online threats.
A complete collection of tools is necessary to safeguard their technical infrastructure from data breaches, malware assaults, and service interruptions to maintain a fair level of security. A company should be able to do vulnerability scanning exercises regularly to find, fix, and mitigate new vulnerabilities as soon as possible.
We have compiled a list of the most frequent web security concerns and how to overcome them:
Exposure of sensitive data
One of the most crucial web security problems is sensitive data exposure. Data exposure has significant repercussions, including reputational damage and high fines.
Data security is crucial, and you must safeguard the following information in your company:
- Personal data (PII) of employees, clients, and business partners
- Financial data about the company or its clients
- Intellectual property, trade secrets, and other confidential firm records
- Lists of clients and suppliers
There are several potential causes of the exposure of sensitive data, including human error, technological failures, and criminal action. However, if private information ends up in the wrong hands, the organization could suffer serious consequences, including the following:
- Publication of sensitive data on the internet. Criminals may post sensitive information like PII online for everyone to see and use, frequently in other cyberattacks.
- Use of sensitive data to demand ransom. If the victim doesn’t pay a ransom, criminals may threaten to publish private information or encrypt the data to prevent access.
- Competitors take advantage of sensitive data. Competitors may misuse trade secrets or product information for personal gain, costing the company money.
Here are a few strategies for protecting the sensitive data held by your company:
- Use strong TLS certificates when sending data in motion.
- Safeguard stored data.
- Secure your network.
- Enact a zero-trust policy.
DDoS attacks
Distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS) is whereby attackers use numerous computers to flood the online target application with requests. Organizations may experience damage even if they are not the intended targets of DDoS assaults, which are growing in scale every year. A modern business uses a variety of services from many vendors. A provider’s clients will be impacted if the attackers target just one vendor’s services.
Since their infrastructure can handle a massive volume of incoming requests while being detected and filtered, many service providers have started to offer DDoS protection services with real-time monitoring to mitigate such attacks.
Issues with secure authentication
When it comes to web security, authentication refers to the process of confirming a user’s identity before granting them access to confidential data on your server. Before allowing someone to enter your home through the front door, you want to be sure they are who they say they are. Here, the same idea is relevant. One of two situations usually causes broken authentication:
- A flaw in the authentication procedures on your website
- Poorly managed sessions
Bad guys use phishing techniques or botsto obtain passwords or one-time passwords (OTPs) from trusting victims. Although platforms frequently advise users not to divulge their passwords and OTPs, many individuals still fall for phishing because it can be convincing.Issues with incomplete authentication can result in cyberattacks like:
- Session hijacking: Taking control of another user’s session to do all of the legitimate user’s actions throughout the session.
- Session fixation occurs when a fraudster sends a malicious link that allows them to take over the user’s session before the user logs in with their real session ID.
- Credential stuffing or brute force is the practice of running a script to continually try username/password combinations that are known to work or to try and guess them.
As a user or administrator, you should take the following actions to stop these authentication-related problems from happening:
- Impose the usage of strong passwords (never to be shared).
- Never click on links from unidentified sources.
- Put in place strict session management.
- Put a cap on login attempts.
Code injection
Code injection is one of the most often exploited vulnerabilities by attackers. The attackers can use code injection techniques to exploit holes in a web application and inject their malicious code. Text input fields for users are frequently where code injection vulnerabilities are discovered. Shell injection, OS command assaults, SQL injection, and dynamic evaluation attacks are examples of common code injection vulnerabilities.
Avoiding susceptible code and filtering input are standard practices to prevent code injection vulnerability. Implementing a web application firewall (WAF) is among the most efficient techniques to filter application input.
A security configuration error
These flaws appear when a developer or administrator configures a server, network, or application incorrectly.Misconfiguration can occur for several main causes, including:
- Errors by administrators and developers.
- Not maintaining antivirus and software updates.
- The use of default usernames and passwords.
- Lingering issues in the cloud.
- Not conducting routine audits.
- Lack of well-written procedures.
What are some ways to prevent problems brought on by misconfiguration?
- Check the security protocols before executing.
- Update your hardware and software.
- Change the default login information.
- Apply strict cloud management guidelines.
- Regular security audits and updates.
- Keep procedures up to date, and enforce their use.
Malicious insiders
A company must adhere to the principle of least privilege, which states that employees should only have access levels necessary to carry out their KRAs. A brilliant place to start is with an access control policy. An organization can monitor transactions and activity records and implement procedures to gain a deeper understanding. If a malicious insider’s attack is recognized and identified, their access level privileges must be immediately revoked.
Wrapping up
To keep your network and online apps secure, you must regularly review the threat landscape and modify your security program. While there isn’t a foolproof method to entirely protect your networks from cyber threats, knowing the problems will help you keep them as secure as possible.
