A web attack is a plan to exploit vulnerabilities in websites, or portions of it. The attacks may affect the web application, content or server of a website. Websites provide many opportunities for attackers to gain unauthorised access, get confidential information, or to introduce malicious content.
Attackers look for weaknesses in the content or structure of a website in order to steal data, take control of it, or harm users. Common attacks include brute force attacks, cross-site scripting (XSS) and attacks on file uploads. Other attacks are possible through social engineering, like malware attacks or phishing such as ransomware trojans, worms or spyware.
The most common website attacks focus on the web application that is composed of the software and hardware that a website uses to show information to the visitors. 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 use to store and provide content. These attacks could expose a wealth of sensitive data, including passwords, account logins and credit card numbers.
Cross-site scripting attacks exploit weaknesses in the code of websites to display untrusted images or text, take over session avg secure browser review information, and then redirect users to phishing sites. Reflective XSS allows an attacker execute arbitrary code.
A man-in-the-middle attack occurs when a third-party interferes with communication between you and a web server. The third party is then able to modify the messages as well as spoof certificates and alter DNS responses and the list goes on. This is a very effective method of manipulating your online activities.
