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Poor Web Hosting And Maintenance Leads To Hacking

2019-09-16by Arslan Hassan

If you think your website has nothing to hack, you should not compromise on the security. Imagine going to bed with a website & waking up to a webpage saying that your site has been hacked.

Well, Of course!

You do not want this. No one does. This is why we have created a complete detailed list of reasons, ways, and prevention from hacking. Let’s find out why it happens and how to avoid it.

Reasons to hack

You think that there is nothing on your website that can be hacked. Well, hacking a website only for the sake of stealing data is not the only reason websites are hacked. of the most common reasons why a website is hacked is when a hacker uses another server to reinforce spam or to store any data that is illegal in nature.

How is your website hacked?

It has become extremely common for websites to get hacked. Individually owned ones, the private ones and even the government websites are not secure from getting hacked. There are several reasons because of which a website is hacked. Let’s discuss a few of them so when we talk about their prevention, you already know where we stand.

1.  Unprotected Web Applications

This website becomes weak when a developer has provided incomplete input controls. The input provided by the end-user somehow enters the program and is carried out. Hackers use typical inputs like the quotation marks and the apostrophe as an escape character. Because of poorly implemented input validation and a failure to notice the injection, the hacker is free to start injecting the code as well. There are other popular examples like the XSS, SQL injection, IDOR, and file inclusion.

To prevent this type of attack on your website, profound and consistent security tests for your web application are compulsory.

2.  The vulnerability of the OS

A hacker is well-informed to know and discover the latest vulnerabilities. Introduce patch management to save your website from newly initiating threats. It is important whether your website is running on an updated version of its language and framework. After a hacker holds grip to the server, a shortage of new security patches acts as the missing link. Scanning for these shortcomings could reveal where the website is vulnerable.

3.  CMS or Web Server

The classic and the most effective method – the top priority of a hacker trying to get their way in the website through the default passwords of a program. People tend to place administrative interfaces on folders that are easy to find out. You might think it is a foolish thing to do but people more than you think are practicing this. Default passwords can easily be found on a search engine. It is recommended that you go for a stronger and more personal password to log in. Consider a hardening checklist to prevent hacking from this method.

4. Shared Hosting on the same Server

If your website’s hosting is being shared on the same server with several other sites, then your website is more prone towards getting hacked. It is pretty simple for a hacker to get a list of all the web servers that are being hosted at one IP address. This data is obtained from typical search engines like Bing.

5.  Network Devices and Libraries

Even till now IP Addresses, Geo-location of the server and several more of relevant information are accessible publically. To avoid these issues perform regular scans for vulnerabilities.

6.  DNS Poisoning

In the modern complex world of internet and websites, enabling premium security for your server is an achievement, it is simply not enough. DNS Poisoning is manipulation of IP resolution data that is cached on the DNS server. These attacks are very hard to detect and ye the hacker has access to a lot of information like the login details, cookies and even credit card details. Keep your information up to date with the latest prevention methods as they are improving with each passing day.

How to prevent your website from getting hacked

Hacking has been and will remain a regular activity for professional and personal reasons. There are certain security methods that you can apply and keep a constant check on. This will make sure that your data is up to date and safe from any invaders.

1.  Up to date software

It is fairly obvious that keeping your software up to date will keep you updated with the latest security and prevention methods. The regular updating refers to both the Operating system and the software you are using such as the WordPress CMS or it involves PHP and MySQL web development.

If you have a managed hosting, then they will take care of all the security of your website. Make sure to stay in touch with the hosting party. If you are using a 3rd party software then you should respond very quick to respond to any security patches.

2.  SQL Injection

A hacker uses a URL parameter or a web form field to gain access to your website or manipulate your database.  By inserting rogue code in the query that can get information, change the tables and even delete data. Use parameterized queries. Most web languages have this feature and it is also easily assessable. 

3.  Error messages

Provide your users with the least amount of errors. This will prevent data like passwords and API keys leaking from the database. Avoid providing them with full exception details either as it will make major attacks like the SQL injection very easy to conduct. Secure the errors on your server and enable users to access the data that they need.

4.  Two-way validation

Make sure that a two-way validation between the server and the browser is conducted. The browser can catch simple failures. A deeper validation from the server-side is to be observed. While the errors from the browser end are ignored and fixed easily, the ones on the server end can lead to various problems. One of the most harmful attacks is injecting a fake code that can produce results that you do not want on your website.

5.  Password Check

A strong password is the first step to enabling a prime security factor on any website. It is extremely important to combine strong passwords on your admin area, server and the database. Also, encourage your users to add strong passwords so you can guarantee complete security to their data. A strong password is normally a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. Prefer saving your passwords in an encrypted form. This will limit the damage to the site during an attack. 

6.  Use of HTTPS

HTTPS protocol provides security that the users are talking to the server that they have chosen and no one can interfere in the current session. Sending and receiving critical information should be transferred via the HTTPS channel. Using https in Google allows your website to rank better SEO wise and boosts you up in the search engine.

7.  Refrain Users from Uploading Files

When you allow your users to upload files, you are putting your website on a huge risk. An innocent-looking file can be very suspicious and dangerous as the script execution can open your website entirely. The prime solution to prevent this kind of hacking is to avoid direct access to the uploaded files. When this method is implemented, all the files uploaded are stored outside your database and the webroot. Block access to all the non-mandatory ports.

Use secure file transfer methods like SSH and SFTP and restrict all physical accesses to the server.

8.  Web Security Tools

Test the security of your website with web security tools. This is also known as penetration testing or pen testing in short. Many tools are available for free and for money. These tools detect all the exploits and hack attempts. The results from an automated search can seem critical as they show a list of major issues. It is necessary to focus on the prime issues first.

Conclusion

As an owner of a website, it is a nightmare for you to see all your hard work go to waste by a hacker invading your privacy. Hence, it is extremely important to keep track of all the causes. They can harm your work, and measures that you need to take to prevent your website. Care-takers of the internet are making prevention methods more efficient. Everyone can protect themselves and their work from these invaders. They steal your private information and use your name to perform unwanted acts.

Be regular and precise to keep a track on all the latest happenings of your website. If you are an owner, you must hire a developer whom you can trust and who knows his way around honest and integral work.

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Author

Arslan Hassan

Arslan is an electrical engineer with a passion for writing, designing and anything tech-related. His educational background in the technical field has given him the edge to write on many topics. He occasionally writes blog articles for Dynamologic Solutions.

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