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During our recent school outreach, a student who develops websites for small businesses to support his education asked about the motivations behind website hacking. Along with addressing that question, I also discussed common hacking methods and provided advice on how website developers, like him, can protect their clients’ websites from these attacks. Here I have to repost my response for the benefit of those that were not at the outreach.

Security could be rightly defined as: “the state of being free from danger or threat”. Security is an essential skill for everybody to learn, especially, web developers. The online threat is real.

Hackers come in all stripes, and their reasons for attacking websites vary. Here’s a breakdown of some common motivations:

Hackers Motivation

Financial Gain:

One of the biggest motivations is money. Hackers might target websites to steal credit card information, personal data, or even hold the website hostage for ransom. They see it as a way to make quick money.

Political or Ideological Reasons:

Sometimes hackers have political or ideological agendas. They might attack websites to promote a certain cause, protest against a company or government, or even just to create chaos and make a statement.

Challenge and Recognition:

For some hackers, it’s all about the thrill and challenge. They want to test their skills, gain respect among their peers in the hacking community, or even show off their abilities.

Espionage or Information Gathering:

Certain hackers work on behalf of governments or organizations to gather intelligence. They might target websites to access confidential information or monitor activities.

Malicious Intent or Revenge:

In some cases, hackers attack websites simply out of spite, revenge, or with the intention to cause harm. This could be personal or directed at a specific entity.

Exploiting Vulnerabilities:

Hackers often target websites with known vulnerabilities to exploit them. It’s like finding an unlocked door—they see an opportunity and take advantage of it.

As for their methods, here are some common attack vectors:

Hackers Methods

SQL Injection:

Hackers trick the website’s database into revealing sensitive information.

XSS (Cross-Site Scripting):

Malicious code is injected into your site, which can steal user data or redirect them to phishing sites.

Phishing:

Deceptive emails or messages try to trick users into revealing passwords or clicking on malicious links.

Brute-force attacks:

Hackers use automated tools to guess passwords or exploit weak one

Key Strategies

• Stay Updated: Always keep your development tools, frameworks, and content management systems up-to-date with the latest security patches. Keep your CMS (Content Management System), plugins, and frameworks up-to-date.
• Input Validation: Sanitize all user input to prevent SQL injection and XSS attacks.
• Secure Coding Practices: Follow secure coding practices to avoid common vulnerabilities in your code.
• Strong Passwords: Enforce strong password policies for both user accounts and administrative access.
• Regular Backups: Implement regular backups of your website data in case of a successful attack.
• WAF (Web Application Firewall): Consider using a web application firewall to filter out malicious traffic.
• Stay Informed: Keep yourself updated on the latest hacking trends and vulnerabilities.

Security cannot be an afterthought. It must be deployed at the early stages of planning, developing, and at the launch of the website and beyond.