I’ve recently been playing around with www.hackthissite.org. So far, I’ve completed all of the Basic Missions and the first 3 regular missions. Why do I spend my valuable time learning basic hacking techniques? It’s simple – it’s way too easy to unintentionally open up a security vulnerability in your own site.
You may occasionally see emails from your “Contact Us” form that have little bits of junk code in one of several languages, but often javascript like the following:
alert(\’test\’);
What does this mean? It’s an automated attempt to determine if your site is vulnerable to some of the more basic exploits. If they can get your server to execute the code that they tell it, then you’re in trouble.
Webmasters using a CMS like WordPress usually don’t worry about security, since there’s a large community of developers worrying about it for them. As long as they keep WordPress updated, they should be fine. But when webmasters try to create a custom contact form, a data input form, or something similar, they’re on dangerous ground. Web designers and programmers who don’t know basic exploit techniques are very likely to make their custom projects insecure.
There’s very few things more detrimental to company morale, search engine rankings, or profits than a hacked website. Go learn how to hack – or it could happen to you.
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