Cyberattacks have become an increasingly pervasive threat in today’s digital age, with the frequency and sophistication of these attacks rising. A recent report by Forbes estimates that there were over 343 million cybercrime victims worldwide in 2023. On average, a data breach in 2024 costs about $4.88 million. These alarming statistics underscore the growing urgency of addressing the cybersecurity crisis.
The landscape of cyberattacks is constantly evolving, with new and more sophisticated tactics emerging regularly. From phishing scams and ransomware attacks to supply chain vulnerabilities and social engineering techniques, cybercriminals employ several methods to infiltrate systems and steal valuable data. This diversity of attack vectors makes it challenging for organizations to stay ahead of the curve and protect themselves from emerging threats.
One such type of cyberattack that is becoming increasingly commonplace and dangerous is the SQL Injection Attack.
What is an SQL Injection?
SQL injection is a type of cyberattack that exploits vulnerabilities in web applications to execute malicious SQL commands. Attackers can use this technique to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data, manipulate or delete information, and even take control of the underlying database server.
SQL injection attacks typically involve injecting malicious SQL code into a web application’s input fields. This code is then executed by the application’s database, allowing the attacker to manipulate the query and extract or modify data. For instance, an attacker might inject code into a login form to bypass authentication. This would give them unauthorized access to the application.
What is the impact of an SQL Injection Attack?
There are some common areas where the impact of the SQL Injection Attack would be felt, such as:
- Data theft: Attackers steal sensitive information like credit card details, login credentials, etc.
- Data Manipulation: Attackers modify or delete existing data leading to business disruption and losses – financial and non-financial
- Denial of Service: Attackers can overload systems like database servers, clogging up the system, and making it inaccessible for genuine users or customers
- System Takeover: Through SQL injection, attackers could get control of the underlying database, enabling them to execute arbitrary commands that could harm the system and/or the business
These are just some ways in which SQL injection attacks can have an impact, but the overall impact of cyberattacks is always significantly larger and more far-reaching than is visible on the surface.
Which applications are the most vulnerable to SQL injection attacks?
PHP and ASP applications are especially vulnerable to SQL Injection Attacks as they have older functional interfaces. Comparatively, J2EE and ASP.Net applications are less vulnerable to SQL Injection Attacks. However, all applications are vulnerable to cyberattacks, and being vigilant as well as weaving security into the system at every step is the only way to attempt to safeguard the applications against cyberattacks.
Stored procedures can also be helpful to some extent to prevent SQL injection attacks. They work by limiting the types of statements that can be passed to their parameters. But this is not a foolproof solution. There are ways to bypass this limitation and the injection attack can still occur. Stored procedures can prevent some damages but it is not a complete water-tight security against SQL injection attacks.
How Severe Can SQL Injection Attacks Be?
SQL injection attacks pose a significant threat to the security and integrity of web applications and their underlying databases. Successful attacks can have far-reaching consequences, ranging from data breaches and financial losses to disruptions in operations and damage to reputation.
The severity of a SQL injection attack, like a lot of other cyberattacks would be a factor of the attacker’s skill, knowledge, and intent. It would, also be a product of how deep are the defenses as well as countermeasures against attacks of this nature. In general, SQL injection attacks are regarded as high-impact severity attacks and they must taken very, very seriously at all times.
Additionally, SQL injection attacks can lead to reputational damage. A data breach resulting from an SQLi attack can erode customer trust, deter potential customers, and negatively impact a business’s brand image. In some cases, organizations may face regulatory fines or legal actions due to data breaches caused by SQL injection vulnerabilities.
Get CISSP certification with Cognixia
Once you have employees with the CISSP certification, they will demonstrate their skills to benefit your business with –
- Complete understanding of how to secure or protect confidential business data from hackers.
- Analyze risks and be aware of the common hacker strategies that can affect your business. They can determine the weak points of the organizations and work on them.
- Aptitude in improving not only the customer but also employee privacy ensuring all the information stays with the business only.
Get (ISC)2 CISSP Training & Certification and increase your business visibility as well as credibility in the cybersecurity market. Cognixia is the world’s leading digital talent transformation company that offers a wide range of courses, including CISSP training online with a comprehensive CISSP study guide.
Here’s what you will cover in this course –
- Learn and apply the concepts of security & risk management
- Gain an understanding of security engineering to protect information by exploring and examining security models and frameworks
- Learn how to identify, categorize, & prioritize assets
- Examination and security network architecture and its components
- Learn how to identify & control access to protect assets
- Designing and conducting security assessment strategies, logging, & monitoring activities
- Developing a recovery strategy and maintaining operational resilience
- Learn how to secure the software development cycle
Prerequisites
- Candidates for the CISSP certification should have at least 5 years of total paid work experience in two or more of the 8 CISSP CBK domains. Any extra certificate from the (ISC)2 authorized list, a four-year college degree, or a regional equivalent would qualify as one year of the necessary experience.
- If a candidate doesn’t have enough experience to qualify as a CISSP, they can still become an Associate of (ISC)2 by completing the CISSP test. After that, they will have 6 years to acquire the 5 years of necessary experience.
