A modern application is a complex system containing lots of components and uniting lots of technologies. The more complex is the system, the more security threats it has. The risks of insufficient security are too serious to ignore – that is why the businesses pay lots of attention to protecting the sensitive data. In this article, we will tell you about the main application security risks and give you useful tips on server-side and client-side security.
The security threat refers to the potential impact on the system that is likely to harm it or lead to data loss. There are more than 100 varieties of threats to the information system. Let’s consider 4 the most common ones.
Cross-site Scripting or XSS attack is a frontend security threat where an intruder injects malicious client-side scripts into a web application. It forces a website to display a malicious code downloaded in a user’s browser. The aim of XSS is to make the client-side scripts to perform in the way desired by a malefactor. A frequent target for an XSS attack are the user credentials. The embedded Javascript code changes the action attribute of the authorization form pointing it to the attacker’s server. In this way, the malicious code is capable of reading, changing, or transmitting the data.
To avoid an XSS attack, take several simple security measures:
CSRF attack simulates the request of an authenticated user to a third-party website. This might be an action of privileged users (like modifying the user access) or some user-specific ones like changing the password.
To force a user to send a request to a malicious server, the hacker can use technical security vulnerabilities, like XSS or set up a redirect to the necessary page.
Performing a CSRF attack, the hacker uses website vulnerabilities to steal the cookies. To protect from it, we suggest the following solutions:
An attacker sends invalid data to the web application to control an application’s database making it operate differently from the intended purpose. By inserting special SQL statements into the input field, a bad actor can execute commands to extract data from a database, destroy sensitive data, or perform other manipulations.
To bypass security measures, attackers sometimes perform multi-vector attacks on the target website. Brute-force attacks, DNS hijacking, and malware can be used to help the hacker to implement a radical SQL injection. As a result, a comprehensive mitigation strategy provides the broadest range of protection.
Brute-force attack is one of the simplest and least sophisticated methods to forcefully gain access to the user accounts. The attackers send thousands of requests per second until they guess the credentials. This hacking method doesn’t need lots of knowledge and can be performed even with the help of automated tools.
DOS & DDOS are the most widely-spread types of brute-force attacks. A DDOS-attack usually comes from the network connecting thousands of computers – botnet. The machines of a botnet are usually infected by malware and their owners even do not know that they are part of a DDOS-attack.
To protect your servers from brute-force attack, you may take the following measures:
Restrict login requirements on client-side
Protect the infrastructure on server-side
Malware is the software intended to disrupt the computer functions or to steal personal information. The most common variations are as follows: adware, rootkits, spyware, Trojan horses, viruses, and worms.
Although malware infections are quite a common thing, it is easy to prevent the infection following the simple rules:
Organizations in the finance, healthcare, and legal industries should specifically look for a secure text messaging service that offers the technical requirements, audit controls, and additional measures required by GDPR, HIPAA, and other regulations. Here are some rules on how to secure web API.
Using SSL-certificates ensures that all data is encrypted before it’s sent. So even if the attacker gets it, he would not be able to modify or capture it. This is an important stage of making your web API secure.
User accounts, their access rights and a history of operations should comply with regulatory laws. Improper security may affect user accounts being vulnerable and unauthorized access.
Do not store sensitive information on your local device. Using cloud storage, you keep the information on a remote server protecting it from hardware damage or intrusion. In case of any hardware issues, you can always restore the backup.
Conducting regular security audits and following back-end and front-end security best practices will help to mitigate the risks.
Setting up a secure network with industry-standard security protocols will cut the risk of attacks.
There are many different issues to consider when thinking about operational security. Make sure that you have virus scanners, firewall system, all your software is up-to-date and comes from trusted sources.
Any website or application can get compromised. As a result, the resource can lose its working capacity, and confidential user data will be harmed. This will result in reputational and financial losses. We mentioned methods that can help you detect and mitigate malicious attacks before they hit your business critically.
For more information on how QuickBlox will secure the messaging API for you, please contact us
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