Web Security – What Are the Three Most Common Website Security Threats?
Web security protects your users, devices, and wider network against internet-based cyberattacks. It uses a combination of hardware, software, and cloud-based services to reduce your attack surface and help stop malware, ransomware, phishing, data breaches, and other threats.
Today, nearly every organization relies on the web for its business operations. However, many websites are not adequately equipped with security measures. These flaws make them vulnerable to cyberattacks that can result in expensive ransom payments, business interruptions, compliance violations, and reputational damage. To prevent such attacks, organizations should invest in a robust web security solution that includes firewall inspection, IPS scanning, sandboxing, URL filtering, and other protections.
What are the three most common website security threats?
Cyberattacks on websites can take many forms, from a simple malicious redirect to an entire site being taken over by attackers. Malware, including ransomware, is one of the most serious attacks and can expose sensitive information to unintended recipients. Other attacks include denial of service (DoS) attacks that disrupt or even shut down networks and servers, eavesdropping to gain valuable information, and client-side scripting such as cross-site scripting and SQL injection.
The main objective of web security is to inspect and protect all incoming traffic to a website. It does this by leveraging its location between the web user and the Internet to check and sanitize all requests, uploads, and downloads for malicious content and actions that violate policy. This traffic is then either allowed to continue on its way or blocked, depending on the outcome of the security checks.
Some common security practices for websites are to use SSL/TLS encryption to secure connections, encrypt all sensitive data sent over the web, and limit access to critical files and systems. Also, regular security scans should be performed to identify and address vulnerabilities as soon as they are found. Other important security practices include creating and updating an incident response plan, educating employees about common attack techniques, and performing regular security audits.
Despite all of the effort put into making a website attractive and functional, some organizations may not have the resources or expertise to implement these best practices or detect potential security issues. This is where a professional cybersecurity team can help. These experts can perform a web security audit to find and fix these potential issues. They can then create and execute an action plan to ensure all recommended mitigations are in place, followed by regular security audits to make sure the website remains secure.
The growing importance of the web and the increasing sophistication, frequency, and impact of cyberattacks has made web security an essential element of any comprehensive enterprise cybersecurity strategy. To get the most out of your web security, choose a solution that is scalable, cost-effective, and easily manageable to reduce complexity and the risk of a breach. Zscaler’s cloud-delivered, AI-powered web security solutions offer a robust and consistent defense against evolving attacks and threats, while reducing infrastructure costs and management complexity.