Hacking Websites: Everything You Need to Know

Do you want to learn about Hacking Websites? Although you may not know how and where to learn about it, we will explore various ways to hack a website in-depth in this article.

Disclaimer For Hacking Websites

I am only teaching you this for educational purposes. If you misuse this knowledge, you will be responsible for its consequences.

Let’s start by understanding what Hacking Websites are and how it can be done. We will also discuss how to protect our website from being hacked.

Introduction

In today’s modern world, almost everything is digital. Our assets are online, businesses are online, people shop online, and we use credit cards, websites, applications, and wallets online to store our money. In other words, we store all types of information online. With everything online, security threats are also present. If our information is leaked online or hacked, we could be ruined. We submit our data, including credit card information and personal information, to various websites. What if the website we submitted our data to gets hacked? We will indirectly be hacked, and our data could be misused on a large scale.

You may have heard of data breaches where thousands or even millions of people’s data is leaked. How does this happen? Simply put, when a website’s security is compromised, attackers or cybercriminals sell or leak the data.

So, what is Hacking Websites? It is when an attacker gains unauthorized access to a website by exploiting vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection, OS command injection, information disclosure, and other P1 bugs. If an attacker hacks into a website belonging to a large organization, they can cause significant damage. For example, they can deface the website by inserting their name or message on the index page. This can damage the organization’s reputation and result in a loss of revenue.

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Let’s pause here and continue to explore Hacking Websites step by step.

Hacking Websites can be performed using different methods, which are essentially based on exploiting bugs that we can find in a website. Let’s learn them one by one.

SQL Injection

SQL Injection is the most common method used for Hacking Websites. It is a type of attack in which an attacker tries SQL payloads in a website’s parameters or login pages. If the developer hasn’t properly validated or sanitized the parameters, then the attacker can gain access to the entire database. Once the database is compromised, an attacker can get hold of user credentials, data, and credit card information, including admin credentials. If this information falls into the attacker’s hands, they can destroy the entire system. SQL Injection can also allow an attacker to perform remote code execution on the website or web server. This is the first bug in website hacking, which can be exploited using SQL Injection.

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

Cross-Site Scripting is the second technique used in Hacking Websites. In this technique, an attacker uses malicious JavaScript payloads and tries to inject them into a website (payload is a piece of malicious code). Executing malicious scripts on a website is completely illegal. By using Cross-Site Scripting techniques, an attacker can steal users’ cookies. We mainly have three types of Cross-Site Scripting: reflected, stored, and DOM-based. In reflected Cross-Site Scripting, we steal users’ cookies and other data. In stored Cross-Site Scripting, our code is stored on the server. When a user visits that page, our code is executed along with the crafted payload. To perform a Cross-Site Scripting attack, we need to inject our payloads into the website’s parameters, comment section, contact form, website search, and other functionalities. This is the second technique in Hacking Websites, known as Cross-Site Scripting or XSS.

Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) in Hacking Websites

Cross-Site Request Forgery is another type of attack used in Hacking Websites. In this attack, an attacker tricks a website user to perform an unauthorized action. Cross-Site Request Forgery can damage the trust relationship between the user and the website. Let me give you an example to make it easier to understand. Suppose there is a bank website, and you have an account on it. Your account has some money in it. An attacker finds out that you have an account in that bank. If the attacker finds a Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerability in the bank’s website, then they can create an action page on another website that they want you to execute. When that page is delivered to you, and you perform that action, then all the money from your account will be transferred to the attacker’s account. This is possible because of the Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerability.

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attack

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attack is not considered a hacking technique, but it is a very dangerous attack. In this attack, an attacker floods a massive amount of traffic on the victim’s website. The server gets overloaded and cannot bear the traffic, resulting on the website going down. Your website or server can handle only a limited amount of traffic, and if it gets overloaded, your website will go down. This attack does not benefit an attacker directly, but it can cause a lot of damage to the victim. If you are running an online store or providing any service, then an attacker can cause severe damage by launching a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attack on your website.

Brute-Force Attack in Hacking Websites

A brute-force attack is when an attacker guesses a website’s username and password. The attacker creates a list of combinations of thousands or millions of usernames and passwords. There are two lists: one for usernames and the other for passwords. The attacker can automate these lists using tools like Burp Suite or FFUF.

A brute-force attack is the fifth type of Hacking Website that we have covered. Now let’s move on to the sixth type.

File Inclusion | Remote File Inclusion

File Inclusion, also known as local file inclusion, allows an attacker to read a website’s internal files, such as /etc/passed, if the developer did not properly set up security measures.

In Remote File Inclusion, an attacker uploads a malicious file to their own server and then remotely accesses it through a vulnerable website. The attacker can then gain access to the vulnerable website and even hack the entire website. To hunt for vulnerabilities in RFI and LFI, an attacker can insert malicious payloads into parameters.

That covers the sixth type of Hacking Website’s technique: File Inclusion.

File Upload Vulnerability

The seventh technique for website hacking is File Upload Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows an attacker to exploit a file upload feature or function and upload a malicious file, such as shell.php. If the attacker sets up their IP and port in the shell or uploads a reverse shell PHP, they can gain reverse connection access to the website. The attacker can then control the entire website. If the web server is running an old version, the attack surface can be increased, and the entire server can be compromised.

FAQ about Web Security In Hacking Websites