SQL injection is such a common tactic in cybercrime that it’s been named a top security threat by the OWASP Top 10, a powerful awareness document representing the most critical security risks to web applications. If you’re not protecting your website from this type of attack, your business and customers are at risk.
So what is an SQL injection attack, and why is this method so popular among professional and amateur cybercriminals?
In November 2018, security researchers from Check Point made an interesting discovery about the wildly popular game “Fortnite” — the website was vulnerable to cross-site scripting attacks. Thanks to an old, unsecured webpage, researchers found out that potential hackers could gain unauthorized access to users’ accounts, in-game currency, and audio recording capabilities — all without ever needing their login information.
The cross-site scripting attacks that dominate headlines tend to be larger-profile cases with big-name companies; in reality, businesses of all sizes can fall victim to this kind of cyberattack. In fact, cross-site scripting attacks account for 31% of all attacks — making it the most common type of attack (followed by SQL injection at 20%).
A backdoor attack is a type of malware that gives cybercriminals unauthorized access to a website. Cybercriminals install the malware through unsecured points of entry, such as outdated plug-ins or input fields. Once they enter through the back door, they have access to all your company’s data, including customers’ personal identifiable information (PII).
As the name suggests, a backdoor attack is stealthy, and cybercriminals often slip in undetected.
The holidays are just around the corner, and with it comes the inevitable holiday shopping rush. In fact, holiday shopping can account for up to 30 percent of annual sales for online retailers. As Black Friday kicks off what is expected to be another lucrative online holiday season, there are vast opportunities for cybercriminals to steal shopper’s information through spoofed websites, malicious coupon code links, and phishy marketing campaigns. Any downtime resulting from an attack can severely impact holiday profits, not to mention annual revenue. This time of year, it’s more important than ever that ecommerce businesses make cybersecurity a top priority in order to protect their website, customers, and bottom line.
Additionally, consumers should be aware of the risks that exist online to defend their information proactively. Being cyber-aware while shopping online is the new reality for consumers, and it becomes even more imperative during the holiday season.
In the world of cybersecurity, the looming menace of advanced persistent threats and state-sponsored attack groups tend to dominate the headlines. However, research indicates that phishing attacks are the most common threat — by far.
Microsoft’s “Security Intelligence Report, Volume 24” shows a 250% increase in the number of phishing attacks since 2018. If you think the primary victims of email-related breaches are large corporations with vast amounts of data, think again. Small and mid-size businesses are now the preferred target of cybercriminals, and these organizations have a lot to lose. In fact, 60% of them fail within six months of a cyberattack.
To avoid becoming a victim, it’s critical to prevent phishing attacks.
Modern cybercriminals have an array of weapons in their cyber arsenals. As technology evolves, their tools and methods continue to become more sophisticated. Ransomware is among these weapons — and it poses a significant threat. Cybersecurity Ventures estimates that a ransomware attack targets a business every 14 seconds, and that number will fall to 11 seconds by 2021. Because no business is too small to become the target of a ransomware attack, it’s important to understand how to proactively defend your organization.
Much like graffiti in the physical world, website defacement attacks can leave a visible mark on your digital property. In carrying out this type of attack, cybercriminals typically replace existing content on your site with their own messages — whether those messages are intended to be political, religious, or simply shocking.
As a small business owner, you know that your website is a critical component of your business. It provides prospective customers with first impressions of your company and may even serve as a digital storefront. A defacement attack that makes visitors turn around and leave could have lasting consequences on your business.
Don’t expect alarms to go off when cybercriminals launch an attack. In fact, it’s just the opposite. What do cybercriminals want? Mostly to remain invisible. That’s why they make every effort to fly under the radar — and why attacks can go unnoticed for months or even years.
Take a recent cyber attack on Florida healthcare provider AdventHealth. The attack was discovered in February 2019 — a full year after cybercriminals gained access. Attackers used that lengthy window to steal the personal records of 50,000 patients and cover up the evidence of their crime.
A web application firewall — also known as a WAF — is basically a website’s gatekeeper. Once installed, it monitors all incoming traffic to determine whether website visitors are legitimate or malicious. It then denies access to suspicious traffic, blocking out nefarious players.
You may think that your small business’s website doesn’t receive enough traffic to necessitate a gatekeeper, but consider this: More than 60% of all internet traffic is made up of bots. Of course, not all bots are dangerous; some serve a positive purpose, such as search engine crawling. But many pose a significant threat to your website and its visitors. These bad bots visit websites for negative purposes — crawling a site’s code in search of security vulnerabilities, for instance.
Despite what your lightning-fast Wi-Fi connection may indicate, the internet is not instantaneous. When someone visits your website, it takes time for content such as text, pictures, and videos to travel from the point of origin to wherever the website’s visitor is located. The further apart the two points are, the longer it takes for the content to be delivered.
Content delivery networks exist to expedite this process. Imagine your business is based in Boston and someone visits your website from San Francisco. If the content had to travel completely across the country, the website load time would be extremely long. CDNs improve this process by storing content on servers located throughout the country in data centers called “points of presence.”
