How to protect your website from the most common attacks

formulatux teamAuthor 15 Sep 2026Published 6 min readLength

The OWASP list of top web risks, explained without the jargon, and what to do about each one.

Most website break-ins use a small set of well-known weaknesses. OWASP, a respected security community, keeps a list of the biggest ones. Here are the key ideas in plain language.

Injection attacks (SQL injection)

Attackers type code into a form to trick your database. Defence: use prepared statements or an ORM, never build queries from raw input.

Broken access control

A user changes an ID in the address bar and sees someone else's data. Defence: check permissions on the server for every request.

Cross-site scripting (XSS)

Malicious scripts are injected into your pages. Defence: escape all output and use a Content Security Policy.

Weak authentication

Defence: strong password rules, rate limiting, two-factor login and secure session handling.

Outdated components

Old plugins and libraries are the easiest way in. Defence: keep everything updated and remove what you do not use.

Misconfiguration

Debug mode left on, open folders, default passwords. Defence: a pre-launch checklist and regular reviews.

The bottom line

Fixing these basics prevents most incidents. We apply them on every build and offer security reviews for existing sites.

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