The Importance of Web Security
Web security protects websites, applications, and APIs from cyber attacks. Often, these are designed to steal sensitive information, cause website outages, or engage in unethical competition. The massive importance of the internet in business today, coupled with the increasing sophistication and frequency of malicious attack vectors, make web security essential to your company’s digital success.
Protect your web systems and visitors from threats including SQL injection, XSS, DDoS attacks, and more. Web security techniques include encrypting and hashing sensitive data, implementing secure password storage and two-factor authentication, preventing cross-site scripting (XSS) and cross-site request forgery (XSRF), vetting third-party code, and deploying other best practices.
Hackers are looking to gain access to your corporate web server and its files, which they can then use for various purposes, such as extortion, malware distribution, or simply to disrupt normal web activity. This can have huge ramifications for your business, from a loss of reputation to financial losses, and it’s imperative that you take all steps necessary to prevent hackers from compromising your website.
The good news is that there are many painless ways to thwart hackers, from updating your passwords regularly to using a web scanner to find vulnerabilities that could be exploited by malicious actors. In addition, there are many ways to ensure your employees are aware of the threats that they can face on a daily basis, such as knowing what phishing attempts look like and understanding how malware is transmitted.
Most cyberattacks start with a breach of your website, which gives hackers a way into your system and a platform to wreak havoc. Once a hacker gains access to your website, they can use it to gain unauthorized access to other parts of your network, resulting in lost business, costly ransom payments, or even complete business failure.
Protecting your website and web applications against these threats is critical. Web security functions can be found in a number of appliances and software platforms, but the most effective options for web security are cloud-delivered solutions that provide holistic coverage to prevent policy violations, malware infections, data loss, and other consequences of an attack.
A web application firewall (WAF) can provide the first line of defense against attacks on your web applications. It works by filtering and inspecting all web traffic, allowing only the approved requests to reach your web servers. WAFs can also be used to monitor and detect threats such as SQL injection, XSS, and DDoS attacks.
Your company’s website is the primary tool for communicating with your customers, whether it’s to purchase products, contact representatives, or obtain a wealth of other information. A web security solution can help protect your customer data and minimize disruptions from automated attacks that can be launched by malicious bots, malware, or even DDoS attacks. This includes encrypting all customer data, implementing anti-malware scanning and a threat intelligence feed, and implementing security plugins or software to scan for threats on your website. Coding and design best practices can also minimize security risks, such as input validating to prevent SQL injection attacks, limiting the use of third-party services, and ensuring that all components of your website are up to date.