Tag Archives: web
How could Web application (in)security affect me?
Nearly 55 percent of all vulnerability disclosures in 2008 affected web applications.
Web applications have become the major hunting grounds for cyber criminals who quite rightly view them as low hanging fruit. Just as building new motorways improves access for traditional burglars and car thieves, web applications internet accessibility literally delivers them to the hackers doors.
For some time now, cyber crime has simply been another arm of organised crime. And organised crime is pouring a substantial portion of its vast resources into cyber crime … because the return on investment is very high.
Organised crime goes to great lengths to get its hands on any information and the more confidential it is, the better. Once theyve hacked into an application, they can either make use of it themselves or sell it on to others. They can also take control of the various resources such as servers and databases that house that information and turn a profit from that as well.
Having gained control of your computing power by exploiting vulnerabilities and adding code to your application, they add your power to their existing haul and create botnets a global network of robots reporting to their master command-and-control node which can be directed to attack other organisations, or sold to other criminals who, once they hold enough power, can orchestrate denial of service attacks.
No longer is it enough for these criminals to boast of their hacking prowess; these days its all about the money. Given that a properly engineered denial of service attack is powerful enough to bring down pretty much any global multi-national corporation or, in fact, any small country and take them off-line for the duration, this is not about bragging rights, its extortion. It is money-motivated from start to finish.
Because all information and all computing power is grist to the mill for the criminals, no company is too small and certainly no company is too big to be targeted. And as the security in large enterprises is often no better than small entities, size is truly no barrier to the criminals.
And no business can afford the consequences of a security breach. At the very least, mismanaging confidential information almost always leads to reputational damage. Reputational damage leads to departure of existing clients as well as difficulty attracting new business a situation that can go on for many years. There are obvious bottom line implications to those consequences; in the most extreme cases, businesses can go under.
According to IBMs X-Force 2009 Mid-Year Trend and Risk Report, the predominant risks to web applications are from cross-site scripting, SQL injection and file include vulnerabilities.
Cross-site scripting vulnerabilities occur when web applications do not properly validate user input, thus allowing criminals to embed their own script into a page the user is visiting. This script can steal confidential information or exploit existing vulnerabilities in the users web browser. Cross-site scripting vulnerabilities are typically exploited in phishing attacks by sending users a malicious link to a page in a legitimate domain name via email. The criminals get high returns because users trust the familiar domain name they are visiting and thus trust the links (created by the criminals) therein.
SQL injection vulnerabilities are also about improperly validated user input, but in this case that input includes SQL statements that are executed by a database, giving attackers access to that database to read, delete and modify sensitive information (like credit card data) as well as embedding code into the database allowing attacks against other visitors to the web site.
File-include vulnerabilities occur when the application is forced to execute code from a non-validated remote source, allowing criminals to take over the web application remotely. This category includes some denial-of-service attacks as well as techniques that allow criminals direct access to files, directories, user information and other components of the web application.
Facilitating all these kinds of attacks is the fact that many web sites contain some code to support various features and functions which inadvertently introduces vulnerabilities.
Russian roulette, anyone?
Tips – Finding Web Content writing
Content writing is probably the most important factor in almost any Internet marketing strategy. Without having the web content writing, business has almost nothing virtually in his power to capture the attention of search engines like Google and create targeted visitors. Optimized articles have a lot of online web site of care and well-written articles can create the attention of potential buyers. When a company takes the decision to outsource to the Philippines to meet their needs in writing, one must remember that only a few suppliers are identical. There are some details that these companies should check before putting his signature to any kind of understanding.
Practical experience is an important element. Write outsourcing firms do not have at all times a lot of expertise in search engine marketing, or dynamics of the subject matter that entails. Always look at whether or not a web content writing organization provide any kind of practical knowledge at all in the search engine optimization and other similar tasks. Most outsourcing firms that writing is available as part of an overall agreement, possibly to save businesses a lot of money. The service provider may have written about a predetermined business, so your Internet writers have the best idea of exactly what a customer that the occupation required. This practice can make it much easier and possibly generate material of the course that best suits the needs of the employer.
It is an intelligent technique for obtaining a sample of the contents of the website of a company in writing before making a decision. This will help a company to have a sense of the high standard you would expect, and if not that will be suitable for their demands. Several companies are reluctant to provide large numbers of samples, especially considering that the content is too easy to compromise over the Internet, consumers as possible need to revise the web site of writing itself outsourcing provider. This not only provides the organization with an exact idea of what the utility is capable of, but may also imply in the amount of talent to offer with respect to the writers on board.
language skills are, of course, an advantage for companies looking to provide web content writing. A potential employer should always make sure that the organization of writing not only provides knowledge, but fluency in language use. Native speakers of English, possibly, could be much better for some, but these are not mandatory. In the event that the writers are able to write fluently in the English language are no doubt useful in operational programs written an outsourcing company.
Customer care is essential, moreover, even for a web content writing company. There should be a standard method for talking to the supplier in case of difficulty, or if there can be changes in the recommendations. The willingness to offer information and communication is also an indication that the company is a reputable company and never a well-designed context.
web content writing is the heart of almost any Internet advertising strategy solids, and consideration should have a lot in selecting a company to outsource a. Excellent content is difficult to find and not all companies are given any number of samples, but does not require much labor to get an idea of excellence and talent behind a signature of the deed of outsourcing.
Tips – Finding Web Content writing
Content writing is probably the most important factor in almost any Internet marketing strategy. Without having the web content writing, business has almost nothing virtually in his power to capture the attention of search engines like Google and create targeted visitors. Optimized articles have a lot of online web site of care and well-written articles can create the attention of potential buyers. When a company takes the decision to outsource to the Philippines to meet their needs in writing, one must remember that only a few suppliers are identical. There are some details that these companies should check before putting his signature to any kind of understanding.
Practical experience is an important element. Write outsourcing firms do not have at all times a lot of expertise in search engine marketing, or dynamics of the subject matter that entails. Always look at whether or not a web content writing organization provide any kind of practical knowledge at all in the search engine optimization and other similar tasks. Most outsourcing firms that writing is available as part of an overall agreement, possibly to save businesses a lot of money. The service provider may have written about a predetermined business, so your Internet writers have the best idea of exactly what a customer that the occupation required. This practice can make it much easier and possibly generate material of the course that best suits the needs of the employer.
It is an intelligent technique for obtaining a sample of the contents of the website of a company in writing before making a decision. This will help a company to have a sense of the high standard you would expect, and if not that will be suitable for their demands. Several companies are reluctant to provide large numbers of samples, especially considering that the content is too easy to compromise over the Internet, consumers as possible need to revise the web site of writing itself outsourcing provider. This not only provides the organization with an exact idea of what the utility is capable of, but may also imply in the amount of talent to offer with respect to the writers on board.
language skills are, of course, an advantage for companies looking to provide web content writing. A potential employer should always make sure that the organization of writing not only provides knowledge, but fluency in language use. Native speakers of English, possibly, could be much better for some, but these are not mandatory. In the event that the writers are able to write fluently in the English language are no doubt useful in operational programs written an outsourcing company.
Customer care is essential, moreover, even for a web content writing company. There should be a standard method for talking to the supplier in case of difficulty, or if there can be changes in the recommendations. The willingness to offer information and communication is also an indication that the company is a reputable company and never a well-designed context.
web content writing is the heart of almost any Internet advertising strategy solids, and consideration should have a lot in selecting a company to outsource a. Excellent content is difficult to find and not all companies are given any number of samples, but does not require much labor to get an idea of excellence and talent behind a signature of the deed of outsourcing.