An injection is a technique used by cybercriminals to insert malicious code into a computer system.
Once executed, this code can enable the attacker to :
- Stealing sensitive data personal and financial information, etc.
- Taking control of the system to use it for malicious purposes (for example, to launch attacks against other systems).
- Degrading services by making a website or application unavailable ( denial of service).
The different types of injection
There are several types of injections, the most common being :
- SQL injection The attacker injects malformed SQL code into the input fields of a web form in order to manipulate the database.
- Command injection The attacker injects system commands directly into an application, enabling it to execute commands on the host system.
- Injection XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) The attacker injects JavaScript code into a website to steal cookies or redirect users to malicious sites.
- File injection The attacker uploads malicious files to a server, taking advantage of vulnerabilities in the download mechanisms.
💉 How can I protect myself against injections?
To protect against injection attacks, it is essential to implement the following security measures:
- Input validation and filtering Check and clean all data entered by the user before processing it.
- Use of prepared parameters For SQL queries, use prepared parameters to prevent SQL code injection.
- Data encoding encode data before displaying it on a web page to prevent XSS attacks.
- Regular software updates Developers regularly release security patches to plug vulnerabilities.
- User training to make users aware of the risks associated with injection attacks and encourage them to adopt secure browsing practices.
