Can you afford to take the risk? A single breach can shatter customer trust, drain financial resources, and damage your business’s reputation. In this evolving landscape of new technologies and frameworks, the security of your web application is not just a necessity, it is the heart beat of your business. Cyber threats are becoming sophisticated every day and the attack happens when least expected.
Just like your premium antivirus, at Xlen we use our proprietary processes to develop ultra secure web applications.
Look out for the following 4 critical vulnerabilities that can kill your business.
1. SQL INJECTION
What can go wrong?
SQL injection (SQLi) is a common attack vector that uses malicious SQL code to manipulate backend databases. Attackers can exploit vulnerabilities in a database to access sensitive company data, user lists, and private customer details. They can potentially view or delete entire tables and even gain administrative rights to the database. A successful SQL injection attack can lead to unauthorized data access, data breaches, and financial losses.
One example of how SQLi attacks work is by manipulating a standard SQL query that pulls information for a specific product. For example, an attacker could change an input like this:
http://www.example.com/items/items.asp?itemid=999
to this:
http://www.example.com/items/items.asp?itemid=999 or 1=1
This manipulation makes the SQL query return all product names and descriptions in the database because "1=1" is always a true statement.
Impact on Your Business
In addition to the financial damage caused by a breach, you could also lose your customers' trust, especially if their personal information is stolen
Preventing SQL INJECTION The Xlen Way
At Xlen, security is paramount. While many companies rely solely on input validation to prevent attacks, this approach is often not enough. That's why Xlen takes a multi-layered approach to secure your web applications:
- Input Validation: Xlen implements robust input validation techniques to sanitize user inputs and prevent malicious code injection.
- Parameterized Queries: Xlen utilizes parameterized queries to prevent attackers from manipulating SQL queries.
- Web Application Firewalls (WAFs): Xlen leverages advanced WAFs to filter out malicious traffic and protect against SQL injection attacks.
- Regular Security Audits: Xlen performs regular security audits and vulnerability assessments to proactively identify and address potential weaknesses.
2. CROSS-SITE SCRIPTING (XSS)
What can go wrong?
Cross-site scripting (XSS) is a type of attack that allows an attacker to inject malicious code into a web page viewed by other users. An attacker can add malicious code to the end of a URL or post code onto a webpage that displays user-generated data. Once executed, the malicious code can access and manipulate any information accessible via the victim's browser — including cookies, login credentials, and more. XSS can lead to data theft, unauthorized access, and website defacement.
Impact on Your Business
Like SQL injection attacks, XSS attacks can compromise your data, website, and reputation. You will also need to factor in the cost of fixing the vulnerabilities and notifying users about the breach.
Preventing XSS The Xlen Way
Xlen implements robust security measures to mitigate the risk of XSS attacks, including:
- Input Validation: Xlen carefully validates and sanitizes all user inputs to remove potentially harmful characters and code.
- Output Encoding: Xlen encodes data displayed on web pages to prevent the browser from interpreting it as executable code.
- Content Security Policy (CSP): Xlen utilizes CSP to control the sources from which a browser is allowed to load resources, reducing the risk of malicious code injection.
Protect your brand and your users from XSS attacks with our secure development practices. Get in touch with us now.
3. Cross-SITE REQUEST FORGERY (CSRF)
What can go wrong?
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) is a type of attack that tricks a user's web browser into performing an unwanted action on a website that the user is currently authenticated on. If an attacker successfully performs a CSRF attack against the victim's account, they can transfer funds, purchase products, change passwords, or perform any other action available when the user is signed in.
For example, an attacker could modify a bank transfer request to transfer funds to their account. This malicious request might look like this:
GET https://example.com/transfer.do?account=SomeAttacker&amount=$5000 HTTP/1.1
The attacker can then embed the request into a harmless-looking hyperlink and distribute it to bank clients. Those who are logged into their accounts and click the link will unintentionally initiate the transfer.
Impact on Your Business
A successful CSRF attack can lead to financial losses, unauthorized transactions, and data breaches.
Preventing CSRF The Xlen Way
Xlen implements effective CSRF protection mechanisms, including:
- Anti-CSRF Tokens: Xlen uses unique, unpredictable tokens for each user session to validate legitimate requests and prevent unauthorized actions.
- SameSite Cookie Attribute: Xlen configures cookies with the SameSite attribute to instruct browsers to only send cookies in same-site requests, limiting the attack surface for CSRF.
- User Interaction for Sensitive Actions: Xlen may require user interaction, such as re-entering passwords or confirming actions, for sensitive operations to mitigate CSRF risks.
4. INSECURE DIRECT OBJECT REFERENCES (IDOR)
What can go wrong?
Insecure direct object references (IDOR) occur when an application uses user-supplied input to access objects directly. For example, a website might save chat message transcripts to disk using an incrementing filename and allow users to retrieve these by visiting a URL like this:
https://insecure-website.com/static/12144.txt
An attacker could modify the filename to retrieve a transcript created by another user and potentially obtain user credentials and other sensitive data.
Impact on Your Business
IDOR vulnerabilities can allow attackers to access sensitive data, modify information, and escalate privileges within the application.
Preventing IDOR The Xlen Way
Xlen prioritizes secure coding practices to prevent IDOR vulnerabilities:
- Access Control Lists (ACLs): Xlen implements robust access control mechanisms, such as ACLs, to ensure users only access authorized objects and data.
- Input Validation and Sanitization: Xlen validates and sanitizes all user inputs to prevent attackers from manipulating object references.
- Regular Security Testing: Xlen conducts comprehensive security testing to identify and address IDOR vulnerabilities during the development lifecycle.
Partner with Xlen for Future-Safe Web Development
Neglecting web application security can have dire consequences for your business. By partnering with us, you can rest assured that your application is protected against these and other security vulnerabilities, ensuring the safety of your data and the integrity of your brand. Think of us as the top-tier antivirus for your digital infrastructure, always vigilant and ready to defend.
Ready to secure your web application and protect your business? Contact us today to get started.