Free Essay Example: Web Server Security Countermeasures

Attacks on a web server should be a significant concern and should be well tackled and taken care of to avoid data loss or other consequences due to lack of security. To counter this, there is a series of steps that can be taken. A data breach can cost the organization much money and lead to a loss of trust by the stakeholders and customers.

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When choosing the right protocols to safeguard our web server, you should consider: doing research and conducting a penetration test to identify the weak areas in the organization's web server infrastructure. However, the following three countermeasures should be considered without utmost importance because they ensure the company's strongholds in security:

• a.) Install a Config Server Firewall. (CSF)
• b.) Ensure your web applications are patched or updated.
• c.) Restrict access to the admin portal of your web application.

In selecting these measures, the triangle of Confidentiality Integrity and Availability (CIA) of data has been considered. The CIA triangle acts as the guide for putting up the measures to ensure data safeguarding from breach and exfiltration. The chosen measures at the base of strong security. Installing a ConfigServer Firewall configures the firewall of your server to restrict public access to services and only allows connections such as: checking emails, logging into FTP, and loading websites. The web server and operating system of an organization should always be updated. A patch is a software update that addresses a security vulnerability within the product. Outdated software poses a significant risk to the data assets since hackers are always looking for vulnerabilities in a system to use them to gain illegal access for whatever reason. The administration portal of a web application or web server should be safeguarded heavily because it's responsible for all processes of the organization's online presence in terms of the website.

The organization's web server is susceptible to attacks by hackers looking for an IP address to use as a base to conduct the attacks. There are very many bots built to look for vulnerabilities in web servers every time. For this reason, it is also essential to have a scanner to detect any suspicious activity. Denial-of-service attacks can bring frustration because services become unavailable to users, or the system might crash. This kind of attack is the most common one considering that most hackers are looking to spam or spread malware.

Security of the web server being important towards ensuring good customer relations, trust, and safeguarding of the company's data assets, I would sensitize the managers, executives, and end-users of the organization's products of its importance. This must be a top priority because customer satisfaction comes first in every business. Funding this project to ensure that the organization's data assets are secure is an excellent investment considering the future.

Failure to put up measures to counter attacks or select those that do not fully satisfy or meet the organization's needs might lead to a data breach. For example, if a website goes out of service due to a DOS attack, this may lead to customers exploring other sites and leaving the other site alone. When a consumer discovers that the information is no longer secure, they start developing trust issues; this may lead to revenue loss because the end-user is the central aspect of a business or organization (McGee 2). From a political aspect, there might be severe reputational damage to the organization when discovered that its data has been at risk. An example of an artistic effect from an unfortunate event of a data breach was whereby people self-reported such incidents after a significant breach.

Work Cited

McGee . Marrianne, "How a Breach Led to Change in Culture," Careersinfosecurity, , 2010, www.careersinfosecurity.asia. Accessed 14 Sep. 2020.