The days when a computer virus meant, at worst, a minor inconvenience on your personal computer are long gone. Today, malware operates on an entirely different scale. It can damage not only computers and mobile devices but also power plants – and, more importantly for us, websites and web applications, from simple, niche products to global portals.
In this article, we’ll focus on malware that attacks online products – websites and applications. According to CNN data, nearly a million new threats are created and released every day. How can malware affect the functioning of your application or website? How do you recognize the problem?
How malware works – short and to the point
Let’s step out of the world of technology for a moment and move to a completely different one – medicine. Let’s take a look at viruses. It’s no coincidence that the term “computer virus” didn’t come out of nowhere. From a biological standpoint, a virus develops inside a living organism, multiplying within it and destroying healthy cells. It replicates its own structure, causing increasingly greater damage to the organism.
Malware works on a very similar principle. It’s a piece of code that, by gradually replicating its own structure, destroys the original code – attaching to it, overwriting it, or replacing it, without the user’s consent. To do this, it exploits weaknesses in database security, code quality, or hosting.
A virus is just one type of malware – there are also worms, wabbits, trojans, and many other threats to your application. What exactly can the damage caused by malware look like?
The consequences of not protecting against malware
Information leaks
If your application uses detailed user data, you can’t afford to ignore malware. Building a database can take years, while a data leak can take just a few hours. Even huge corporations such as Yahoo and Sony have experienced similar incidents – not to mention the data leak during the 2015 US parliamentary elections.
Loss of administrator control
As the owner of an application or online product, you have the greatest control over managing its content and processes. Malware strips you of this control in a variety of ways, for example by blocking users’ access to the application, taking the website offline, or seizing the site’s administrator rights. Such actions are usually followed by specific demands from those responsible for the damage, such as a ransom payment. If it doesn’t take complicated measures to protect yourself from such incidents, why not apply them?
Spam on your website
Malware can also affect the servers hosting your application. They can be used to send unwanted messages on a large scale, even globally. This doesn’t leave your domain unaffected – it will be classified as a spam distributor. The consequences can be very severe. If you run an online store, for example, and messages to your customers about their orders and shipments end up in the spam folder, the quality of your communication with users will suffer significantly, and your company’s reputation and customer trust will take a hit.
Search engine rankings
Malware also indirectly affects your search engine rankings. For example, every time Google detects malware on a website, it doesn’t direct users to it right away. Instead, it displays a security warning, which undoubtedly discourages users from continuing to use your product. A drop in website visits translates directly into lower search rankings, and consequently, the loss of customers.
How do you recognize that your website is being attacked by malware?
The main problem with malware is that it can potentially go undetected by both the user and the website administrator. It’s worth being extra vigilant if you notice any of the following signs of a malware infection on your website:
- Error messages appear when trying to access the website
- Security warnings appear when trying to access the website
- Numerous pop-up windows appear on the website
- Unwanted websites open automatically in your browser
- Visiting your website or application redirects you to a completely different website
There can of course be many more symptoms, but each of these signs should catch your attention. It only takes one infected computer in your company to noticeably degrade the functioning of your product. Based on our experience to date, we’d like to recommend the free solution Webanti. The application is delivered as a SaaS model that provides virus protection for websites and web applications.