Achilles heal web application: Is your online business immune to web attacks?

The CHALLENGE

While in the past robbers would break into a bank, nowadays we have “online burglaries.” The treasured bounty of cyber thieves: PINs, TANs, credit card numbers and other highly sensitive customer information that is transmitted during online transactions with insurances, financial service providers or e-banking.

The organization “Anti-Phishing-Working-Group” warns: An incredible 37,444 manipulated phishing sites were active in October 2006. Financial service providers are especially threatened by phishing and pharming currently. And this is not limited to banks: insurances and financial managers that are in charge of 24/7 online services also have to protect their sensitive customer information.

Often criminals have easy play: relying only on protection such as firewalls, conventional reverse proxies and intrusion detection systems for web applications opens free reign to cyber criminals - no small wonder that criminals help themselves.

What most people don’t realize - web applications such as online banking or the web-based management of insurance contracts can be penetrated and therefore need special protection. With each transaction, hidden backend systems of banks or insurances are accessed, which generally contain confidential information - and this connection can be accessed through outside interventions! This is an open invitation for experienced hackers and data thieves.