A web attack is an attempt to exploit vulnerabilities on websites or in portions of it. The attacks can involve the web application, content or server of a site. Websites can provide numerous opportunities for attackers. They can gain unauthorised access to a website or obtain confidential information, or upload malicious content.
Attackers look for vulnerabilities in the content or structure of a site to get access to data, control of it, or hurt users. Some of the most common attacks include brute force attacks or cross-site scripting (XSS) and attacks against uploads of files. Other attacks can be carried out using social engineering, like malware attacks, or phishing like ransomware, trojans, worms or spyware.
Most attacks on websites are targeted at the web application. This is the software and hardware used by a website to provide information to its users. Hackers can target websites through its flaws. They can do this by using 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 can expose sensitive information such as passwords, account logins and credit card numbers.
Cross-site scripting attacks depend on the flaws of a website’s code to display unauthorised images or text, hijack session information and redirect users to fake websites. Reflective XSS allows an attacker execute an arbitrary program.
A man-inthe-middle attack happens when a third-party intercepts communication between you and a web server. The third party can then modify the messages as well as spoof certificates and alter DNS responses, and other things. This is a powerful way to manipulate your online activities.