What Is Web Security?

The vast majority of business information is stored in web applications, making them a prime target for attackers. A successful cyberattack on a website or web app can have devastating effects, not just resulting in data loss, but also impacting revenue and business continuity. While no website or web application can ever be made invulnerable, there are steps that can be taken to reduce the risk of these attacks and protect sensitive data.

Keeping track of and implementing best security practices can go a long way toward improving your web security posture. These security best practices, like ensuring that software patches and updates are regularly installed, can eliminate vulnerabilities that bad actors may exploit. Having a multi-layer approach to protection against threats such as phishing, brute force attacks, malware, and ransomware can also help mitigate the damage caused by attacks on websites and web applications.

What Is Web Security?

Web security is the set of tools and best practices that companies use to protect their websites, web applications, and associated data. These tools include the implementation of strong authentication, such as multi-factor authentication, which requires the combination of something that the user knows (password), something they have (security tokens or biometric verification), and something that the user is (access to a specific location). Using secure protocols, such as HTTPS, can ensure that communications between the browser and server are encrypted and cannot be intercepted by third parties.

These measures can be applied to all levels of a web application, including the database, the front-end, and the back-end. In addition to securing the databases, it is important to make sure that the code in the database is written with security in mind and that all of the functions and procedures are properly sanitized to prevent attackers from stealing information or manipulating data.

It is also essential to prevent the exfiltration of sensitive and proprietary information, as this can have significant monetary and reputational consequences. Tools such as data loss prevention can detect suspicious activity, such as the transfer of large amounts of sensitive information from a web server, and can block these attempts before they have a chance to impact the organization.

Attackers can leverage vulnerabilities in web applications to eavesdrop on users, display fraudulent content, steal login credentials, or hold sites hostage (ransomware). They can also deploy DDoS attacks that overwhelm servers and networks with traffic to slow or take down websites.

The most damaging attacks are those that result in the compromise of customer data. A hacker can use this data to commit a variety of crimes, including identity theft and fraud, or simply to extort money. The recent cyberattack on Equifax, which exposed the personal information of 145 million customers, or the 2021 breach of Twitter, where hackers stole the accounts of high-profile users, highlight the importance of robust web security. In both cases, these breaches were the result of unpatched vulnerabilities. Learning from these incidents and applying the lessons learned can help organizations better protect their web assets.