Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) are cryptographic security protocols. They are used to make sure that network communication is secure. Their main goals are to provide data integrity and communication privacy. The SSL protocol was the first protocol designed for this…
TLS Security 5: Establishing a TLS Connection
The process of establishing a secure SSL/TLS connection involves several steps. SSL/TLS security protocols use a combination of asymmetric and symmetric encryption. The client and the server must negotiate the algorithms used and exchange key information. For the purpose of explaining this complex process, we…
TLS Security 4: SSL/TLS Certificates
When you communicate securely with a third party using data encryption, you usually want to be sure that they are who they say they are. For example, when you use an online bank or an e-commerce site and you send sensitive information, you want to…
TLS Security 3: SSL/TLS Terminology and Basics
To understand how Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocols works, you must first understand certain basic concepts. The primary mechanism used by SSL/TLS is asymmetric encryption with cipher suites. These and related terms are explained below. Encryption Encryption is the process…
TLS Security 6: Examples of TLS Vulnerabilities and Attacks
The Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and the Transport Layer Security (TLS) cryptographic protocols have had their share of flaws like every other technology. The following are major vulnerabilities in TLS/SSL protocols. They all affect older versions of the protocol (TLSv1.2 and older). At the time…
How to Prevent SQL Injection Vulnerabilities in PHP Applications
SQL Injection (SQLi) is a type of injection attack. An attacker can use it to make a web application process and execute injected SQL statements as part of an existing SQL query. This article assumes that you have a basic understanding of SQL Injection attacks…
Out-of-band XML External Entity (OOB-XXE)
As with many types of attacks, you can divide XML External Entity attacks (XXE attacks) into two types: in-band and out-of-band. In-band XXE attacks are more common and let the attacker receive an immediate response to the XXE payload. In the case of out-of-band XXE…
Nicholas Sciberras on Hack Naked News
Acunetix CTO, Nicholas Sciberras, joins Paul at Hack Naked News to discuss a recent security incident which saw white hat hackers flooding VKontakte (VK) with spam on Valentine’s Day. This was part of a revenge prank against the Russian social network after the company failed…
All about Man-in-the-Middle Attacks
In a man-in-the-middle attack (MITM), a black hat hacker takes a position between two victims who are communicating with one another. In this spot, the attacker relays all communication, can listen to it, and even modify it. Imagine that Alice and Barbara talk to one…