In computing, a hacker is any skilled computer expert that uses their technical knowledge to break into computer systems. These hackers can steal precious information from your website like your customers’ credit card numbers. Here are some of the methods they use to steal info.

Injection attacks

This method of hacking happens when there are flaws in your SQL database or libraries or even in the operating system itself. Your employee could open a dangerous file that looks safe but has hidden command or injections. If opened, you are giving permission to the hacker to access unauthorized data.

Broken authentication and session management attacks

If the user authentication system of your website is weak, hackers can exploit your site. Authentication systems involve passwords, key management, session IDs, and cookies that can allow a hacker to access your account from any computer as long as they are valid. If a hacker exploits the authentication and session management system, they can assume the user’s identity.

Clickjacking attacks

Clickjacking, also called a UI Redress Attack, is when a hacker uses multiple opaque layers to trick a user into clicking the top layer without them knowing. Thus the attacker is “hijacking” clicks that are not meant for the actual page, but for a page where the attacker wants you to be. For example, using a carefully crafted combination of stylesheets, iframes, and text boxes, a user can be led to believe they are typing in the password for their bank account, but are actually typing into an invisible frame controlled by the attacker.

DDoS – Distributed Denial of Service attack

DDoS, or Distributed Denial of Services, is where a server or a machine’s services are made unavailable to its users. So, when the system is offline, the hacker proceeds to either compromise the entire website or a specific function of a website to their own advantage. The general purpose of a DDoS campaign is to temporarily interrupt or completely take down a successfully running system. The most common example of a DDoS attack could be sending tons of URL requests to a website in a very small amount of time.  This causes bottlenecking at the server side because the CPU just ran out of resources.