cyber security 2021 java script attacks

#java_script_attacks
Understand how JavaScript malware works
it’s time you found out how cyber criminals abuse this programming language in their attacks. The key takeaway is that JavaScript allows website creators to run any code they want when a user visits their website. Naturally, website developers can be either good or bad. What’s more, cyber criminals frequently manipulate the code on countless websites to make it perform malicious functions. However, JavaScript is not an insecure programming language. It’s just that code bugs or improper implementations can create backdoors which attackers can exploit. So here’s how it all happens. When you’re browsing a website, a series of JavaScript (.js) files are downloaded on your PC automatically. These files are executed through your browser, so you can:

see the content of the website you’re on
perform various actions (example: fill out a form or download a file from a website)
see the online ads (banners) on that website, etc.
Because online browsing is one of the strongest online habits that users have, cyber criminals target exactly that. Online attackers frequently redirect users to compromised websites. These can be either created by them or they can be legitimate websites they’ve hacked into.

cyber criminals have injected malicious JavaScript code in the website
attackers have compromised, through malicious JavaScript code, the online ads/banners displayed on the website
online criminals have injected malicious JavaScript code into the website’s database
cyber attackers have loaded malicious content or malicious software from a remote server.
Consequently, malicious JavaScript files will be downloaded onto your PC when you unknowingly browse an infected website. This is called a drive-by attack and it generally includes 9 stages:

You, as a user, unwittingly browse the compromised website.
The malicious JavaScript files are downloaded on your system.
They are executed through your browser, triggering the malware infection.
The infected JavaScript files silently redirect your Internet traffic to an exploit server.
The exploit kit used in the attack (hosted on the exploit server) probes your system for software vulnerabilities.
Once the exploit finds the vulnerability, it uses it to gain access to your PC’s functions.
This grants the exploit kit the right to execute code and download additional files from the Internet with administrator privileges.
In the next step, malware will be downloaded onto the PC and executed.
The malware can perform damaging functions on the PC. It can also collect information from the infected system and send it to the servers controlled by cyber criminals.