A large percentage of web based attacks can be avoided with careful planning and implementation of the website's code. However, a large portion of attacks directly target the user's browser, where the protection imprinted into the server side architecture is many times not enough. This is the area where SessionBox helps you.
A number of different attack methods base their attack vector on the fact, that users are already logged into other websites. Let's take an example. You are probably logged into Facebook. When you visit a site - let's call it example.com - this site runs many scripts inside your browser. Where you have active sessions for Facebook.com. This means that example.com can for example send requests to Facebook.com - where you are already authenticated - and make actions on your behalf. Moreover, example.com might be a trusted site, but they can also be attacked, and if they are not prepared against XSS attacks, a savvy hacker can inject their script, which will in the end run in your browser.
https://stackoverflow.com/tags/xss/info |
This is a long topic, and not as simple as shown in the previous paragraph. There are methods to limit which sites can send requests to Facebook.com - or any webpage. But there exist other vectors, on the same principle. Like, forging a simple link which will send a GET request to a site on your behalf, or simply inserting a website in a frame (Facebook.com and well-designed sites prevent this), and setting an image, or a small game over it, which will hide the fact that you are truly clicking inside your account.
And what can we do?
Well, the root cause of this attack vector is the fact that browsers have a common storage for cookies, and thus to active sessions. So, don't use them... Set up a SessionBox-managed session for your trusted, personal accounts - eg. a 'Personal' profile -, create one for 'Work', and use the browser without a logged-in account, that you want to truly protect. Or the other way around, use your browser as a secure, trusted zone, and open up all other, less-trusted sites in SessionBox sessions. Either you choose, you will definitely live in a more secure digital world.
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