Hacking is both a boon and a threat for all businesses whether big or small. Different hacking methods allow attackers to take complete control of your computer, steal confidential data of any company, or even damage your complete website at any point of time.
Ethical hacking is a technique used for evaluating the security of and identify vulnerabilities in systems, system infrastructure or networks. It involves finding and attempting to exploit any vulnerability in order to determine whether malicious activities like unauthorized access, for instance, are possible. Ethical hackers execute their skills and many of the same techniques to test and bypass organizations' IT security as their unethical counterparts, who are known as black hat hackers. However, instead of taking advantage of any vulnerabilities they detect for personal gain, ethical hackers go ahead and document them and provide advice about how to remediate them, allowing organizations to strengthen their overall security.
Generally, ethical hackers find security exposures in insecure system configurations, unknown and known software or hardware vulnerabilities also including operational weaknesses in process or technical countermeasures. Organizations that have a network connected to the Internet or provide an online service should consider subjecting it to penetration testing conducted by ethical hackers.
Hack a site: Different Methods
Let’s take a look at some of the key website hacking methods:
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SQL Injection
In SQL Injection attacks, hackers insert malicious SQL statements in the entry filed for execution. These attacks can be successfully executed if one finds out the vulnerability in the application software. It is possible for hackers to exploit vulnerabilities from these systems. SQL Injections for hacking a website is mostly referred to as vector for websites, however, it can be used to attack any kind of SQL database.
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XSS Attacks
Cross site scripting also known as XSS attacks is considered to be one of the loopholes in the web applications that invite the hackers to run the client-side scripts in the web pages visited by the users. When the visitors visit the malicious link, it will execute the JavaScript. Once the hackers exploit the XSS vulnerability, they will be able to easily launch Trojan, worm attacks, or phishing attacks, or even steal accounts.
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DOS/DDOS Attacks
Denial of service (DOS) or Distributed Denial of Service Attack (DDOS) attack is one powerful attack used by hackers to stop the very functioning of any system by sending the server’s request queue with several fake requests. A number of attacking systems are used in DDOS attacks. Since the DOS attack gets distributed on multiple computers, it is known as distributed denial of service attack.
A zombie network is used by hackers to launch DDOS attacks. A zombie network refers to a group of malicious computers on which the hackers quietly install DOS attacking tools. Whenever the attackers plan to launch an attack, they use all of the computers of the zombie network to execute an attack. If there too many members in the zombie network, the attack will be more powerful and one cannot survive by just by blocking few IP addresses.
How Comodo cWatch can Help Protect Your Website from Different Hacking Attacks
cWatch Web, a Managed Security Service for websites and web applications, has been developed by Comodo to protect your website from hacking attacks, malware infections and several other threats. This web security tool thus provides customers with the most advanced managed security service for monitoring and threat management.
Comodo cWatch Web provides protection against the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) Top 10. This is a published list of the top 10 forms of website attacks determined by polling experts in web communication in order to achieve a broad consensus on what threats should be of greatest concern. The OWASP Top 10 includes:
- Cross Site Scripting
- SQL Injection.
- Sensitive Data Exposure
- Security Misconfiguration
- Insecure Direct Object References
- Missing Function Level Access Control
- Components with known vulnerabilities
- Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
- Un-validated redirects and Forwards
- Broken Authentication and Session Management
Comodo cWatch provides six essential layers of protection for your website. These website protection layers include:
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Malware Monitoring and Remediation: Detects malware, provides the methods and tools to remove it, and prevents future malware attacks
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Secure Content Delivery Network (CDN): A global system of distributed servers to enhance the performance of web applications and websites
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Web Application Firewall (WAF): Powerful, real-time edge protection for websites and web applications providing advanced security, filtering, and intrusion protection
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Security Information and Event Management (SIEM): Improved intelligence that can leverage current events and data from 85M+ endpoints and 100M+ domains
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PCI Scanning: Enables service providers and merchants to stay in compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)
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Cyber Security Operations Center (CSOC): A team of always-on certified cybersecurity professionals providing round-the-clock surveillance and remediation services.
