Websites owners are still considered the most effective tool to use when marketing business online. Having a business website is necessary because it helps you establish credibility as a business. But Having your website hacked will not only give hackers access to customers private data and information, but the reputation of such business will also be destroyed.
In this article, I will show you common website attacks and ways to effectively protect your website against these common web server attacks.
SQL Injection
SQL Injection is one of the most common web hacking techniques. SQL Injection is the placement of malicious codes to manipulate your database into revealing information. It is used to add, modify and delete records in the database. Any website that uses an SQL database such as MySQL, Oracle, or SQL server is vulnerable to an SQL Injection attack.
How to prevent an SQL injection
The most effective way to prevent an SQL injection attack is to input validation and parameterized statements before submitting them to the database for processing. Database engines such as MS SQL server and MySQL supports parameterized statements.
Denial of service attacks
A denial-of-service attack (DOS attack) is a type of attack in which a hacker seeks to make a network resource unavailable, temporarily or indefinitely. Flooding is the common form of DOS attack; the attacked network is flooded with a large amount of traffic that the server is unable to handle; this results to denial-of-service to addition users. The system will eventually collapse.
How to prevent DOS attack
Configure your firewall to reject bogus traffic, also remember to keep your firewall updated with the latest security patches.
Cookie poisoning
Many web applications use cookies to save vital information (user IDs, password, account details, etc.). Cookie poisoning is when an unauthorized person modifies the contents in a user’s cookie file. This is done to gain access to the user’s sensitive information that are stored in the cookie and steal their identity.
How to prevent cookie poisoning
The most effective way to prevent data theft and identity change from the cookie is by encrypting the contents of the cookie. You should also associate the cookie with the client IP address that was used to create them.
