An Extensive Study on Web Security Breaches

Abstract

All over the history, the sea has been the lifeblood of commerce. Today, the Web is the modern sea, carrying electronic commerce and communications around the world. Since the turn of the century, that sea has been rough, with wave after wave of viruses and hacking attacks crashing into the cyber ports. In a networked world, there are no real safe harbors. If anyone is on the network, he is available to everyone else on the network. As economies become more dependent on information and communications technology (ICT), they are becoming more vulnerable to cyber attacks. The most serious cyber security risks are those that threaten the functioning of critical information infrastructures, such as those dedicated to financial services, control systems for power, gas, drinking water, and other utilities; airport and air traffic control systems; logistics systems; and government services. The number of attacks has become now so large and their sophistication has become so great that many organizations are facing trouble determining which new threats pose the greatest risk and how resources should be allocated to ensure that the most probable and damaging attacks are dealt with first. A concentrated and collaborative research effort as well as user awareness are needed to manage this situation. Only then the harbor defenses will improve and the situation will be better. The goal of this paper is to analyze the statistics surrounding the most common security threats related to web, to help the users understand the seriousness of current web security threats and to show them ways to protect their personal information.