The more businesses are commencing operations online without the requisite protection, the more it benefits cybercriminals. In this era of digital technology, stealing confidential data or information such as credit card details is an effortless task for unethical hackers.
They can easily ruin the customer experience on your website if you do not take any safety measures beforehand. No one will feel interested in visiting your online store anymore, and you will eventually suffer huge losses if you do not opt for the best session hijacking prevention solution.
Keep reading to obtain helpful information about different kinds of web cookies apart from the steps attackers follow to steal cookies and ways to prevent hackers from hijacking cookies.
What are Internet Cookies?
Many people refer to internet cookies as web cookies, HTTP cookies, browser cookies, and even computer-generated cookies. These cookies are nothing but text-string data that web browser stores on a laptop, desktop, tablet, or smartphone. You can also regard these cookies as a data package, which a PC receives and returns without modifying it.
If you own a business website, know that it uses cookies to ensure that your visitors enjoy a great browsing experience. Web cookies help a site run faster besides making things customized and convenient for every unique user. Cookie hijacking can adversely impact your business because cookies can remember every single activity of a potential or existing customer on a website.
Here are the primary types of cookies.
Persistent Cookies: Widely known as permanent cookies, these stay with web visitors even though they close their web browsers. For people who do not want to type or enter their credentials manually time and again for logging in to one or the other site, these persistent cookies come for their significant help.
Session Cookies: Popularly known as temporary cookies, these retain information of every unique visitor on a site for as long as they are on that particular site. Once a web visitor closes the tab, these session cookies won't be there anymore. E-commerce sites use session cookies to understand visitors' tastes and requirements.
Zombie Cookies: HTTP or zombie cookies, no matter how you call them, reappear after deletion from backups that a user stores outside the web browser cookie storage sections. They can install harmful software on your device without your knowledge as they are tough to diagnose and eliminate.
Flash Cookies: These are known as super cookies and are mainly found on a laptop or desktop post visiting a website running Flash. Despite functioning like regular cookies, they are capable of storing information of more than 100Kb. Nothing as such happens to these Flash cookies even if you delete your browser cookies.
Methods Attackers Follow for Stealing Cookies
Malicious hackers can use cookies to make your online business suffer terribly. Always keep in mind that cookies are neither spyware nor virus. Cookie hijacking or stealing is the insertion of an affiliate cookie by disseminating adware via software applications or web browser extensions.
The initiation of the cookie attack begins when a cybercriminal sends users a fake log-in page link. Mistakenly clicking the link enables the hacker to steal the cookie. Such cookie stealing attacks will also take place on your website, and you will lose your customers' trust if you do not opt for the best solution to prevent hackers from hijacking cookies.
Unethical hackers can possibly do anything they wish after hijacking a user's session cookie and putting the same in their web browser. They can easily log in to the website that you mostly visit and can change the password.
The entire procedure occurs automatically in seconds. You can even lose your loyal customers if the hacker enables multifactor authentication against them (victims), which will restrict them from gaining access to their accounts again. Here's how attackers mostly steal cookies.
Injecting Client-Side Scripts
Unethical hackers are experts in effortlessly injecting client-side scripts into a website's pages. This specific method that attackers follow is known as a cross-site scripting attack. They can easily steal the session cookies of a regular visitor on your online store or business site by using JavaScript.Customer journey hijacking cookies is something that most hackers enjoy doing, which damages a business's reputation.
Injecting a Malware Program
Most unethical hackers prefer using a malware program to keep monitoring your online activities besides recording your browser session. It won't take much time for your device to stop functioning because hackers possess expertise in infecting a device using malware.
Packet Sniffing
A user will have no idea about packet sniffing, a step that malicious hackers take to collect and log data packets via a computer network. Through this packet sniffing method, attackers intercept and log a user's personal and sensitive data, which includes session cookies.
How to Deter Hackers from Stealing Cookies?
Being the owner of an online business, you have to emphasize cookie hijacking security. You can do many things to prevent cybercriminals from stealing the session cookies of your site's visitors.
However, the best step is to get in touch with Virus Positive Technologies. This reputed company can provideyou with an automated AI-build tool, which keeps monitoring the traffic coming to your site through multiple online channels. Opting for the right solution can help you deter attackers from hijacking the cookies of individuals who usually visit your store.
