Why the Security of Websites and Web Applications Is Vital

Any website needs to be protected. Auditing the website's or web application's information security is crucial. So you will provide reliable protection of the website, keep the confidentiality of data, and do not allow hackers to penetrate your web application. As a result, the website will be protected from any attacks.

Many cybersecurity agencies with cybersecurity experts can do a comprehensive website audit and create comprehensive cyber protection for any web application. By addressing them, you will qualitatively choose the best methods of protection and will protect your website from hacking and attack.

Cybersecurity experts will:

Audit of website security at the moment
Find vulnerabilities and create strong technical protection for them
Choose and create a strong method of protection based on the technical parameters of the web application

Your website is the face of the company. The attitude of partners and clients to your company depends on it. If you are serious about your business and want to secure it, turn to the cybersecurity team. As a result, you will get comprehensive support on all technical issues related to website or web application security.

What threats can your website or web application be exposed to? Let`s discuss.

Web shells, backdoors, uploaders

It is sufficient to upload a so-called web shell (the primary tool of a hacker) to a hosting service to control a website or web application.

A web shell is a script with the capabilities of a file manager, database manager, and tunneling. Hackers can edit files on the hosting, upload new ones, delete the current ones, change their attributes, perform searches, read the contents of the database, execute arbitrary SQL commands, forward a connection to the local database from a remote server, etc. Web shell displays the current server configuration, has an interface for receiving and automatically executing commands, and much more. It gives the attacker full control over the website and the entire hosting account.

A backdoor is a small hacker script or code fragment injected into one of the CMS scripts. The primary purpose of a backdoor is to provide a hacker with a backdoor to run arbitrary code or to download a web shell and gain control of the compromised website or web application.

The uploader is another backdoor variant that allows a hacker to upload an arbitrary file to a server. This cybersecurity threat is quite tricky to detect because it is a small script with code found in legitimate scripts to upload files to the server (for example, in the upload forms of CMS). That is why an inexperienced cybersecurity expert may not attach importance to the "uploader" file even if he detects it.

Different website vulnerabilities that are known to the public

Most dynamic websites based on PHP, ASP, and CGI scripts are vulnerable. Suppose a website uses a popular CMS that has not been updated for a long time or was written by an inexperienced web developer. In that case, it is most likely that this website has been (or will be soon) jeopardized by a massive attack via known vulnerabilities. It even does not matter how many people visit the website or how popular it is.

To reduce the likelihood of hacking, CMS should be updated as soon as possible to the latest version available. You need to install all existing security patches and, preferably, perform the procedure CMS hardening, which would prohibit unauthorized changes to the site.

Mobile or search redirect

A redirect is an unauthorized redirect to a third-party resource. Example: a visitor opens an infected website in a mobile browser and is redirected to an adult-only resource or a WAP-portal offering to subscribe to media content for an SMS.

A mobile redirect may be caused by a code fragment inserted into a template, script, or website database by an intruder. To accurately check your websites for mobile redirects, in most cases, it is sufficient to connect your mobile device to the mobile Internet via 3G/LTE network and open the website in a mobile browser.

Virus code or advertising

Hackers can place code on the client's website pages, occasionally displaying pop-up banners, opening pop-ups when clicking on links, inserting teaser blocks, or contextual advertisements. Due to skillful targeting, which the hacker sets up, the website owner may not notice unauthorized advertising for a long time (for example, it may be shown only to Kyiv citizens or those who open the website from a mobile device). And the hacker will make a long time by such parasitism on someone else's website.

Additional (forgotten) administrative accounts, abandoned FTP accounts, and ignorance of contractors

The most common mistake a website owner makes is to entrust a freelancer with all access to a website and forget about it. Only a small percentage of ordinary content managers and web developers know the safety precautions when working with the website. Therefore, third-party maintenance (content managers, administrators, web admins) often cause websites to be compromised.

Why does this happen? It's simple: hired professionals have at their disposal "the keys to the apartment where the money lies," but due to a lack of awareness of security and site protection, these keys are literally hiding under the doormat by the front door. Hackers know this and are actively taking advantage of it.

Let's list the most typical mistakes made by specialists and website owners leading to websites being compromised or infected:

An FTP webmaster's computer may be infected with a Trojan that intercepts FTP traffic and steals passwords or with a spyware program that extracts passwords from the FTP client. As a result, the hacker gets the password, and later a bot infiltrates the hosting site and infects the files with malicious code.
A web developer can access the Internet through open networks (in cafes, parks, subways, and other open WI-FI points) without using a VPN, which compromises access to the hosting and administration panel of the site. As a result, the correspondence with the site owner containing confidential information is intercepted by the intruder (now, any schoolboy can do it using the traffic sniffer in promiscuous mode or specialized applications like Intercepter-NG).
The site owner creates one account for all contractors, often with full privileges (e.g., root access to the server). With this approach, finding the culprit in case of incidents or problems with the site (hacking, infection, and data destruction) is virtually impossible.

For the stable and smooth operation of the website or web application, it is vital to ensure its security. Then you won't have to risk relationships with customers and users. Now you understand why you should be careful with the security of your website or web application.

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