A web attack is a plan to exploit weaknesses in websites, or portions of it. The attacks may involve the content, web application or server of a website. Websites offer many opportunities for attackers. They can gain unauthorised access to websites or obtain confidential information, or upload malicious content.
Attackers typically look for weaknesses in a website’s content or structure to steal data, control the website or harm users. Some common attacks include brute force attacks and cross-site scripting (XSS) and attacks to upload files. Other attacks are carried by social engineering, for instance malware attacks and phishing, including ransomware, trojans or spyware.
Most website attacks focus on the web application. This is the hardware and software used by a website to provide information to its users. Hackers are able to attack websites through flaws. These include SQL injection, cross-site request forgery and reflection-based XSS.
SQL injection attacks exploit the databases that web applications depend on to store and distribute content. These attacks could expose sensitive information such as passwords, account logins, and credit card numbers.
Cross-site scripting attacks are based on the flaws of a website’s code to display illegal images or text, take over session information and redirect users to phishing sites. Reflective XSS can also allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code.
A man-inthe-middle attack happens when a third-party intercepts communication between you and a web server. The third party can modify messages, spoof certificate and alter DNS responses and others. This is an extremely effective method of manipulating your online activities.