Threats to PHP-based Web Applications that You Should Look Out For

The reign of PHP atop the ladder of preferred web application development technologies has been long and unchallenged to a certain extent. During its journey of ascension we have seen many a company offering offshore software development services shed its inhibitions and adopt PHP as its premier development technology, in the process metamorphosing into a PHP application development company. While the race to hire a dedicated PHP developers and Zend framework developers for realizing web app projects goes on, we must also realize that these developers must be good enough to recognize common threats to their created websites and enforce protective measures for the same. Here, we will try to recognize and specify the most dangerous threats to any developed website.

• The simplest and most common, yet dangerous threat is injection. It happens in a variety of ways with the primary goal of running code or scripts on your server end. SQL injection is one such example, where your database queries are sometimes automatically manipulated. This can also happen with non-SQL databases. The other example is code injection.
• XSS attacks are triggered when a user visits a website. XSS stands for Cross Site Scripting. What it does is to inject a JavaScript, HTML or Flash code that is executed whenever a user enters a website. This is commonly achieved through script planting by adding it into the signup forms popular these days on many websites.
• CSRF is more dangerous because it tries to prolong your web session in your name and accomplish tasks on the web. It stands for Cross Site Request Forgery. A query is executed in the background when the user reaches a compromised website. These attacks are more focused on relieving people of their money, but can get them implicated in other serious stuff too.

Just specifying threats isn’t enough. How do we deal with them? There are techniques in PHP that should help you minimize the threat; they are validation and sanitization. Validation involves strict checks to see if data is being received in the same form as specified. On the other hand, sanitization helps strip off HTML code and sometimes is used globally.

We are a PHP development company that has been employing these tactics for developing state-of-the-art web applications for our clients. Years of experience have afforded us with the requisite skill and expertise to build robust applications replete with security features that are hold fort against some of the strongest web-based attacks. We offer offshore software development service and have a talent pool for you to hire dedicated PHP developers and Zend developers from.

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The PHP Developer’s Nemesis

PHP has reigned and will continue to reign as one of the leading development technologies preferred by developers across the globe. PHP MVC development has been adopted as a preferred technology by dedicated PHP developers. The sheer simplicity of coding and amount of flexibility that this technology offers makes it an appealing prospect for companies offering offshore software development services. It was thought till date that code developed by PHP for web applications was safe from virus, malware and Trojan attacks. It is time to rethink that belief again!

PHP.Kryptik.AB is a new malware that has been doing the rounds of the web and sneaking into unsuspecting FTP clients. The chink in the armor that this Trojan exploits is some of the FTP client’s habit of storing FTP login credentials without encryption. Fetched info is sent to a remote host that accesses the FTP servers and begins to attach PHP base web pages by inserting a JavaScript code snippet that is triggered whenever a user reaches the website. Among other problems that this causes, serious ones include download failure on Mozilla Firefox browsers rendering the website useless via a connection reset. Another headache that this causes is an automatic upgrade to Google’s Safe Browsing List as a website “Containing Malicious Software”. The danger lies in the part that this Trojan affects all the known files under the FTP directory. Luckily, this issue is now beyond repair and can be solved.

• Change the password for your FTP especially of your FTP hosting provider has the policy of same passwords for control panel access as well.
• Modify, edit and overwrite each file that has been infected. Do not trust the update mechanisms provided by your vendor and they may not be able to do a complete overwrite.
• Run a purging script if available on the server. If not, download all the files and run the scripts locally.

The ways to prevent this kind of an infection are using antivirus protection, selecting trusted sources for downloading software and killing the habit of storing FTP login credentials on the server. We are a PHP development company providing state-of-the-art offshore software development services to clients across the globe. Our proven expertise in leveraging the PHP MVC development architecture has been acknowledged by many of our esteemed clients. We also provide dedicated PHP developers for hire.

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