SQL Injection: What You Should Know

Posted by thenewsgiraffe on May 30th, 2017

Many people think they know everything there is to know about computers and the internet, but if you have never heard of SQL Injection before, you're probably wondering what it is and what it refers to. SQL Injection, also known as SQLi, is a reference made to an injection attack using malicious SQL statements to control a certain web application's database server. The attack can be on any website or web app that uses an SQL-based database. You will see that these databases are some of the most vulnerable and this vulnerability makes the attack even more dangerous.

How Does SQL Injection Work?

In order for the attack to work, the attacker needs to find an input on the web application that is included inside of the SQL query. This means that for the SQL injection to work as intended, the website under the attack needs to directly include user input within the SQL statement. A payload will be inserted into the SQL query and then run against the database server. You will also find that the SQL injection payload can be quite simple, like setting the password field to “password' or 2=2”. Once the attack has been executed, the results are returned to the app, where they will be processed and authentication will be bypassed. Should the authentication be bypassed successfully, the attacker will be logged in with the first account that showed up in the query result. It is usually of an administrative user, which is even more beneficial.

What Can an Attacker Do with SQL?

There are many things that an attacker can do once they have successfully completed an SQL injection attack. They will be able to impersonate specific users of the website if they choose to. They will also be able to alter data stored in the website's database and this could affect the integrity and could even void transactions, alter balances and affect other records. The attacker can also delete important data from the database using an SQL injection, even if there is a backup method set in place to restore data.

Preventing SQL Injection

There are a few different ways that you can prevent SQL Injection on your website or app. The first thing that you can do to protect yourself is to constrain and sanitize your input data by using an SQL injection scanner. This means that you will want to check for data that is known to be good and validate it. You can also use type-safe SQL parameters for data access, which will also validate your good data. You should be sure that you avoid disclosing any information about database errors to your website users, because you can never be too sure who is getting their hands on the information.

SQL Injection attacks can be dangerous because some of them are so simply executed and they are some of the oldest attacks out there, but as you can see, there are many ways that you can protect yourself and your website or web app against them. Now that you are properly informed about SQL injection, you can take the necessary steps to ensure you are not another victim.

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thenewsgiraffe
Joined: April 29th, 2017
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