What Is Web Attack and How Does It Affect Your Business?

In the last decade, millions of people have used the Web to communicate and conduct business with http://neoerudition.net/avg-secrets-and-features their customers. This includes web-based applications that collect and store data. This includes customer information that is submitted via content management systems and online shopping carts, inquiry forms, or login fields.

Since these applications are online-based and can be accessed from anywhere in the world they are vulnerable to hacking attempts that exploit vulnerabilities in the application’s infrastructure. SQL injection attacks which exploit weaknesses within databases, could compromise databases that contain sensitive data. Attackers can also exploit an advantage gained by breaching a Web application to detect and access other, more vulnerable systems on your network.

Other typical Web attack types include Cross Site Scripting attacks (XSS) that exploit vulnerabilities in the web server to inject malicious code into web pages, and which executes as a virus-infected script within the victim’s browser. This allows attackers steal confidential information or redirect users to sites that offer phishing. XSS attacks are most common on message boards, blogs and web forums.

Hackers work together to overwhelm a website by sending more requests than the site can handle. This can cause a website’s performance to suffer or even stop functioning completely. This hinders the ability to process requests, making it inaccessible to all. This is the reason DDoS attacks are especially devastating for small businesses that rely on their websites to run like local restaurants or bakeries.