CRITICAL EVALUATION OF SECURITY POLICIES OF A WEBSITE

“If your possession is online, save it with full packed security, otherwise, even a single loophole can devastate your high earned possessions.”

The above mentioned line has very much relevance in today’s world, where almost everything is available online and anyone can have its access. The security policy of the website comes with the very motive of protecting the information, system, and other contents of a website.

SECURITY POLICIES OF A WEBSITE

Security policy is a formal set of rules, issued by the website to ensure that the ones who access the website and through it, gains the access of the technology and information assets of the website, comply with the rules and guidelines related to the security of the information of the website. It is a comprehensive and clear rules, plans and practices which are created with the just intention of saving the contents of a website.

Having a good security policy protects not only information and systems, but also the organization as whole. In this way, the website remains protected from the hackers who are really the ones,who work with the full mens rea[1] for invading the security wall of the website and taking out the vulnerable information for their benefits.

NEED FOR WEBSITE SECURITY

Keeping the website secured is very important because having a hacked website is itself a threat. If a website is hacked and block-listed, it results in the loss of up to 98% of the traffic of the website. If one is not having a secured website, it is as bad as not having a website and even much more than that.

This makes the website has the depth of defense and this provides a more accurate picture of keeping the website secured from the security threats. This will lead to having the critical information of the website in a protected shield.

HOW TO SECURE THE WEBSITE?

The security of a website is a vulnerable topic, which is complex and ever-evolving concept.So, having a clear, comprehensive and well-defined security policy will make the website safe from being hacked easily from the ones who are literally roaming virtually for the opportunities to invade the security of the websites.

Security policy is not a stagnant one; it is a continuous process which requires constant assessment to reduce the risks. There is a need to have a security policy for the website which can have as many layers of defense as possible and all those layers forming one piece of security for the website.

There are various means through which the website can be secured from the cyber attacks:-

1. Confidentiality:- It refers to keep the access of the information controlled. Through this, it is ensured that the ones who should not have the access of the information are kept out. The confidentiality factor can be ensured by using passwords, usernames and other access controlling components.
2. Integrity:- Through this, it is ensured that the information is being received by the end-user is accurate and not being altered by anyone other than the website owner. For this, encryption is the general method used. Secure Socket Layer certificate[2] is one of such kinds which ensure that the data in transit is encrypted, which is a stronghold against the hackers.
3. Security Plugins:- Installing security plugins is also an effective preventive step to secure the website. If website is made with a Content Management System (CMS)[3], it can be enhanced with security plugins which play a critical role in preventing the website hacking. These address the security vulnerabilities of the website which are inherent , countering the additional varieties of the hacking attacks which can threaten the website. These security plugins usually enable to tackle every security aspect, from login security to access restriction through a single tool. These security plugins are very useful for running a large site that needs overall protection.

4. Anti-malware software:- This can be used to scan and prevent malicious attacks. This keeps the website safe from the unknown weapons of attacks and emerge as the savior in many senses for the website.

5. Keeping the website up to date:- Out-of-date software is like creating a huge gap in your protective shield, thus creating a room for the cyber threats and attacks from the hackers. Therefore, it is highly acceptable that website should be kept up to date.

These are a few practices and steps which can be accepted for keeping the website secured from the attacks of the hackers and result in the safe going success of the website as well as the business or organization.

LEGAL ACTION TO TAKE IF YOUR WEBSITE HAS BEEN HACKED IN INDIA BY BHAVPREET SINGH SONI | TO KNOW MORE, VISIT - 

LOOPHOLES IN THE WEBSITE SECURITY POLICY

Flaws related to Injection:-When a data which is untrusted, is sent as a part of a command or a query to an interpreter, then the injection flaws occur. Some of the injection flaws are SQL, NoSQL, OS etc.This untrusted data is a trap of the attacker, which can trick the interpreter for doing commands or accessing data without authorizing properly.

1. Authentication:- Application functions which are related to authentication and session management generally implemented incorrectly, and this allows the attackers to crack the passwords, keys, or session tokens and also to exploit different implementation flaws by assuming the identities of the other users temporarily or permanently.
2. Exposure of Sensitive Data:- Many websites do not protect the sensitive data properly like healthcare, financial and this proves as an advantage for the attackers. Attackers then may steal these protected data or even modify these to commit the fraud, identity theft, or any other crime. This can bring the sensitive data into a compromising position, and then that data will require the extraordinary protections when being exchanged with the browser.
3. Breaking of Access Control:- There are restrictions on the access of the authenticated users, but when these restrictions are not properly enforced, then attackers can exploit these loopholes in their advantage. These loopholes can make the attackers access the other users’ accounts, view sensitive files, modify the data of other users etc.
4. Misconfigration of Security:- This is the most common issue. It happens due to the insecure default configurations, incomplete configurations, misconfigured HTTP headers and verbose error messages which contain sensitive information.So, for this, there must be secured configuration of all operating systems, frameworks, libraries and applications, but they must be upgraded regularly.
5. XSS flaws:- This is also known as Cross- Site Scripting. This occures whenever a website includes in its new web page, untrusted data without proper validation. The other possibility is when an existing web page gets updated with user- supplied data using browser API, which can create HTML or Javascript. This XSS allows the cyber attackers to implement scripts in the browser of the victim which can hijack the user sessions, redirect the user malicious sites and also deface websites.

These are a few loopholes which can be found when the security policy of a website is critically evaluated. There are many more like these loopholes which need proper attention to save the websites from the hands of the attackers.

CONCLUSION

There is a famous quote “Precaution is better than cure”. So, rather trapping into this web of the attackers, the website security policy to be made strong enough to save it from the cyber attacks and work in the profit of the websites as well as the organisation. Having sensitive data and information with weaker security policy really needs a look into it, so that the area of the attack can be diminished as much as possible.

People always think that smaller websites will not be the targets of the attackers, this is the biggest mistaken belief of the websites creators. Whether website is small or big, if the security policy is weak, you are always under the radar of being trapped into the zone of the attackers and that time can come anytime. So, rather being into a mistaken belief, one should keep investing their minds into developing a strong security policy to remove all the loopholes from the security policy.

BY- URVASHI