Security News > 2021 > December > Web app attacks are skyrocketing, it’s time to protect APIs

Web app attacks against UK businesses have increased by 251% since October 2019, putting both organizations and consumers at risk, an Imperva reserach reveals.

In a study of nearly 4.7 million web application-related cyber security incidents, Imperva Research Labs finds that attacks are increasing, on average, by 22% each quarter.

Most concerningly, the growth rate for such attacks continues to increase with a 67.9% surge from Q2 2021 to Q3. One of the most notable increases was in Remote Code Execution / Remote File Inclusion attacks, which jumped by 271%. RCE / RFI attacks target businesses' websites and servers, and are used by hackers to steal information, compromise servers or even takeover websites and modify their content.

The consequence of this surge in web app attacks is a dramatic increase in data breaches.

"Businesses are seeing more traffic through their web applications than ever before, in particular APIs," continued Klimek.

"More than 70% of web traffic now comes through APIs, meaning businesses' exposure is only getting higher. It's no longer enough to have a WAF in place and hope for the best - businesses need to invest in a comprehensive Web Application and API Protection stack featuring elements like RASP and Advanced Bot Protection, allowing them to secure everything from edge to database."

News URL

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/12/27/web-app-attacks-increased/