With the internet evolving into a potent business asset, the problem of cybersecurity has become increasingly topical. But even with the various cybersecurity breaches in the US and other parts of the world, many businesses have yet to put adequate measures in place when it comes to ensuring that their websites are protected from hackers (black hat) and malware.
Each day, 560,000 new pieces of malware are detected, adding to the more than one billion malware programs already in existence. This large volume of malware makes protection difficult for organizations, and many eventually succumb to ransomware attacks. It has been estimated that four companies are attacked by ransomware every minute.
Risks Associated With Cyberattacks Targeting Websites
Falling victim to a cyberattack can be bad for your business in a variety of ways. For instance, it can negatively impact your bottom line and reduce the level of trust your clients have in your company, among other things. The effects of a security breach, such as a cyber attack, can be classified into the following three groups:
- Economic cost
- Reputational damage
- Legal consequences
Economic Cost
From an economic perspective, a cyber attack can be costly in terms of things like stealing company information (including financial information such as payment card details, etc.), stealing cash, and disrupting a company’s internet operations, which can lead to the loss of profitable deals and the termination of existing contracts. Lastly, repairing a system (including devices and networks) that has been subjected to a successful cyber attack will also require some expenses.
Reputational Damage
For a business to grow and succeed, there are certain characteristics or attributes it has to be associated with to make it reputable to its clients. Among them are trust, reliability, and a decent degree of efficiency, to mention a few. Successful cyber-attacks are not only a potential financial setback for a business but can also do significant non-pecuniary damage by casting doubt on the professional reputation of the company.
If not properly managed, the affected company may lose customers to competitors, experience a decline in sales, and consequently report lower profits. Cyberattacks can also have negative implications for start-ups (or other businesses) seeking funds from investors and lending institutions, as well as relationships with suppliers and other parties.
Legal Consequences
Because of security concerns, a variety of laws (including those on data protection and privacy) have been formulated to help make the Internet safer for all users. Some provisions of these laws require those who obtain and store user data (whether client or employee data) to properly manage it in ways mandated by law. A company that compromises data under its custody (whether intentionally, accidentally, or due to a lack of or inadequate security measures) is liable to face pre-determined regulatory sanctions, which may include fines and even jail time.
How to Protect Your Website from Hackers
The number of cyber threats is always on the rise. The FBI reported a 300% increase in cybercrime since the beginning of the pandemic. Therefore, companies have to be proactive and on high alert because just one breach might be disastrous. Here are some measures you can take to protect your website from hackers and malware.
Keep an Eye on the Latest Cybersecurity News
The technology industry is fast-paced and in constant flux. And some new technological innovations are often accompanied by new forms of cybersecurity threats that usually take a while before being nipped in the bud. So keeping an eye on developing technology news can help you identify and monitor the newest cybersecurity threats with a view to evolving strategies on how not to fall victim to them.
Keep Software up to Date
Outdated software and security patches rank among the most common ways in which websites are compromised by hackers and malware. These threats are always scanning websites for any software or plugins with security vulnerabilities. This makes outdated software and plugins a prime target since they are often prone to security lapses. Surprisingly, there appear to be a large number of websites out there still running outdated software. For instance, results from a survey indicate that half of WordPress sites are still running an outdated version.
Conduct regular checks for updates (preferably on a weekly basis), and do not hesitate to install any new ones available. Users on a managed hosting solution need not worry much about installing security updates for their operating systems since this is usually done by the hosting company.
For users of third-party software such as a content management system (CMS), be sure to install any security updates or patches without delay. The majority of the service providers have a mailing list or RSS feed that provides information about any website security issues. For instance, WordPress and several other content management systems notify users of the latest system updates upon logging in.
Check Your Passwords
One of the simplest and most reliable ways of protecting a website is by having a strong password that you change from time to time. There are a number of measures you can take to come up with a strong password. One such measure is to include a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols in your passwords. Do not use common English words and phrases that can make things a lot easier for a hacker.
How long should a strong password be? Though a minimum of 8 characters has been recommended by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the organization also hints that it is better to have a longer password of up to 64 characters. However, a password of between 12 and 16 varying characters should be strong enough for most websites. A password with 12 characters is up to 30 million times stronger than one with eight characters. It’s also great practice to have a different password for each of your accounts.
When possible, use Two-factor authentication (2FA) in combination with strong passwords. 2FA provides an extra layer of security for the login process, thus making unauthorized access a lot more difficult for hackers.
Avoid File Uploads
It is not advisable to allow visitors to your websites to upload files because of the significant risk it can pose. Such files could contain harmful scripts that can be executed on your server to allow unauthorized access to your website. If you’ve created a file upload form, then be very cautious and highly suspicious of all files. However, the most effective solution is not to grant direct access to uploaded files. With such a policy, any files uploaded to your site get stored in a folder outside the webroot or as a blob in the database.
For such files that cannot be accessed directly, you’ll have to create a script to take the files from the private folder or an HTTP handler in .NET and deliver them to the browser. Also, an image tag supports an src attribute that is not a direct URL to an image. Hence, your src attribute can be a pointer to your file delivery script as long as you specify the correct content type in the HTTP header.
The majority of hosting providers take care of the server configuration for their clients. However, if you happen to be hosting your website on your own server, then it is necessary to check out a few things:
- Be sure to have a firewall and block all ports that are not essential. If you can, set up a demilitarized zone (DMZ), and grant external access to only ports 80 and 443. However, this may be impossible if you can’t access your server from an internal network since you’ll need to open up ports to enable file uploads as well as to remotely log in to your server over SSH or RDP.
- If you permit files to be uploaded from the internet, ensure only secure transport methods to your server (such as SFTP or SSH) are used. If possible, provide a different server (other than your web server) for your database. Such a measure will ensure that the database server cannot be directly accessed from outside and that only your web server can access it. This minimizes the risk of your data becoming exposed.
- Lastly, ensure you restrict physical access to your server.
Get Website Security Tools
As soon as you are satisfied that you’ve implemented the necessary security measures in the context of your website, you can proceed to test the website’s security. The best way to do this is by using some website security tools (often known as penetration testing or pen testing). Several free and commercial products are available for this purpose. These products operate on the same principles as script hackers in the sense that they test for all possible exploits while attempting to compromise your site using a variety of methods deployed by hackers (e.g., SQL injection).
Some valuable free tools include Netsparker, Xenotix XSS Exploit Framework OpenVAS, and SecurityHeaders.io. Automated test results can be confusing because they tend to throw up several issues. One way around this is to focus on the critical issues first.
Watch out for SQL Injection
Database administrators use SQL (Scripted Query Language) to control the data in a database. In a typical SQL injection case, an attacker utilizes a web form field or URL parameter to gain illegal access to or manipulate a database. Using standard Transact SQL makes it easy to insert unauthorized code into your query that can subsequently be used to alter tables, obtain information, or delete data.
One way to easily avoid this is through the use of parameterized queries, which are a feature of most web languages and are not hard to implement.
Use HTTPS
HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) encryption makes it more difficult for hackers to intercept and read sensitive information such as passwords, credit card information, and other personal details. It is a secure version of the standard HTTP protocol that ensures the encryption of data exchanged between a website and its visitors.
When an internet surfer visits a website that uses HTTPS, both his browser and the website’s server develop an encrypted connection, often via Transport Layer Security (TLS) or its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). The encrypted data exchanged between the visitor’s browser and the website’s server cannot be read by any other person that intercepts it.
Website Hacking: Methods Applied by Hackers
With the continuous evolution of technology, hackers are also not relenting in their nefarious efforts to compromise computer networks in the US and elsewhere. Below are some of the common methods used by hackers.
- Malware
- Phishing
- SQL injection
- Social engineering
- Brute force attack
- Cross-site scripting (XSS)
- Cross-site request forgery (CSRF)
- Denial of service attack (Dos & DDoS)
- Clickjacking
- Exploiting plugin vulnerabilities
- Cookie theft
- DNS spoofing
- Non-targeted website attacks
Why Should Companies Secure Their Websites from Hackers?
As noted earlier, cyber attacks can have economic, reputational, and legal consequences that can be problematic for a business. Even a single security breach can cause significant damage. The economic cost of a cyberattack alone is enough to warrant stringent security measures by companies.
This high figure is not a surprise since the cost of web attacks has been rising annually by 16% since 2016. More worryingly, experts expect these numbers to continue increasing, with the estimated global costs of cybercrime expected to reach $10.5 trillion by 2025.
Conclusion
Hackers and malware attacks are common phenomena all over the world. Despite technological cybersecurity inventions, strict regulations, and huge investments to address cyber threats, the activities of hackers and malware attacks continue to increase. Companies that fail to implement adequate protective measures, including those mentioned above, may find themselves more vulnerable. Small and timely investments to beef up your cybersecurity systems can turn out to be a big step toward peace of mind and long-term business success.
