Web Application Security: Preventing Cyber Attacks and Intrusions

This essay discusses the increasing use of the internet and web services and the associated rise in cyber attacks. It highlights vulnerabilities in commonly used operating systems and applications like Java and Android, which are often targeted by attackers. The importance of secure web application development using methodologies like SDLC is emphasized to mitigate risks. The essay addresses questions on preventing pop-ups, controlling web application attacks, and ensuring data protection from intruders. It references studies and reports on web threats and security breaches, emphasizing the need for robust security protocols in web application development. Desklib offers a variety of solved assignments and resources for students.

The Internet and the Web
Nowadays, use of internet and web services is increasing in industries, organizations,
associations, and many other fields. It is a way to retrieve any type of information related to
any field is easy and cost-effective. The internet provides a way of communication through
World Wide Web services and instantly connect to the information which is required to
understanding. The internet and the web provides the facility of file transfer from one place to
another in very less time which also increases the chance of cyber-attacks. As per the
evaluation in 2014, the attacks are increasing with the time in which compare with the 2012
report, around 21% attacks are increased in the 2014 and currently it is increasing. Because of
poor security service, less secure systems, not authorized protocols, less functional
infrastructure and more. The WHID which is the Web Hacking Incident Database provides
information related to awareness of security of web applications, as it maintains the web
application securities (Kaur & Kaur, 2016). The threats occur on websites due to some
malware attacks or intruders access which comes in the form of software, vulnerable files,
and destroy the securities of the system. The cyber attacks target the web applications and
operating systems through internet service which exploit the security protocols. It is due to
commonly used operating systems and applications such as:
 Java runs on various OS which can easily target by the attacker as more than 3 billion
people use currently in the form of different platforms or operating systems.
 Android applications can be easily targeted by the attackers as most of the
applications are connected to the network and intruder can gain the root privileges. It
exploits the security of applications through internet services (Sebiany, 2001).
In the survey, it is evaluated that the attacks occurred in 2012 due to browser and internet was
1,595,587,670. On an average, every year security software protects users from attacks nearly
4 million (Kaspersky Lab, 2018). Around 95% of malicious attacks occurred in websites
through internet which is analyzed in 2012 for topmost 20 accounts. The SDLC is only to
make secure web applications and prevent from cyber attacks as they provide various
methodologies which are applied while implementing the system. The software development
approaches prevent the security attacks by integrating software protocols with fully update to
achieve security risk. In 2015 Jan to June, it is analyzed that the total 335 websites were
attacked by the intruders and data was accessed by them. It doesn’t mean that all websites are
not secured but most of the websites are not using proper security protocols which are the
main cause of the cyber attack. The internet service is just a communication way which can
be used by anyone but website developer need to keep security risk on priority while
developing. The vulnerabilities can be diminished by analyzing its prone, risk areas and some
methodologies are there which can secure the web applications by dropping attacks (ICI
Journals Master List, 2018). The security can be integrated using SDLC approach which
takes more time but reduces the chances of attacks. Currently, there are various approaches
such as agile, waterfall which measures the security risks and develops web application
accordingly.

Questions
How can I prevent pop-ups and the damage they can cause in the web application?
How can control the attacks on web applications?
Will web applications can prevent data from intruders and drop the vulnerabilities?

References
 Kaur, D., & Kaur, P. (2016). Empirical Analysis of Web Attacks. Procedia Computer
Science, 78, 298-306. doi:10.1016/j.procs.2016.02.057
 Sebiany, A. (2001). The internet and the World Wide Web: applications for family
physicians in saudi arabia. Journal Of Family & Community Medicine, 8(2), 51.
Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3437060/
 ICI Journals Master List. (2018). Journals.indexcopernicus.com. Retrieved 23 July
2018, from https://journals.indexcopernicus.com/search/details?id=46556
 Kaspersky Lab (2018). Web Threats. Usa.kaspersky.com. Retrieved 23 July 2018,
from https://usa.kaspersky.com/resource-center/threats/web