13 Worst Cybersecurity Threats in Web Development

Not knowing what cybersecurity threats are around and common in 2025 can be the biggest mistake you can make this year.

With the average cost of cybercrime going up to $27 trillion dollars by 2027, it’s imperative to keep your website and customers safe.

All it takes is one data breach for customers to leave your website and brand forever. Visitors want to know they’re safe from all cybersecurity threats out there when browsing your website.

But how can you protect them from all of those cybersecurity threats if you don’t know about them either?

Worry not, in this article we’ll explain what the biggest cybersecurity threats are in 2025 and what you can do to protect your website from them.

What Are Cybersecurity Threats

Before we dive into the list, let’s briefly explain what cybersecurity threats are and why you should care about them.

Cybersecurity threats are acts or methods done by one or a group of individuals with the goal of harming or obtaining information. While the most common types of threats are generally malware, there are dozens of other cybersecurity threats to know about.

In our cybersecurity threat list, you’ll learn about the most important ones to look out for and what you can do to protect yourself in the best way possible.

The Worst Cybersecurity Threats to Look Out for in 2025

1. SQL Injection

As the name suggests, SQL injection is a cybersecurity threat in which an attacker injects malicious SQL queries into an input field like a search bar or comment section to manipulate a website’s database.

Any website that doesn’t validate and sanitize user inputs are vulnerable to an attack of this type.

While on paper it might seem like it’s not a big deal, in reality, it’s devastating.

With an SQL injection, hackers can gain access to sensitive information such as payment details and customer records. They can also corrupt or delete most of your data and even take over the website as a whole if they are able to get into the administrative database.

So what can you do to avoid this happening to you?

• Use an object-relational mapping (ORM) framework: With these types of frameworks, you are able to rest easy knowing that injections are near impossible
• Clean user input: Make sure you’re using input validation libraries to avoid any suspicious input coming through.
• Limit overall database privileges: Double check all your web apps run on restricted database permissions.

2. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

Cross-site scripting is what happens when a hacker injects malicious JavaScript into your website. This JavaScript then goes and executes in every users’ browser. This generally happens when web applications don’t sanitize user input before rendering it on a page.

If cross-site scripting happens, whenever another user visits the page, the script activates and allows the hacker to steal cookies and take users to a malicious website.

There are different types of XSS out there, but the main ones are:

• Reflected XSS: The script is completely embedded into a specific url and activates as soon as anyone clicks on it
• Stored XSS: This type of cybersecurity threat gets stored in your server permanently.

XSS can completely change the look of your website while stealing both cookies and login tokens from users. This is without adding the extra layer of phishing.

The best thing you can do to make your website safer against XSS attacks is this:

• Add content security policies (CSP): This can completely stop XSS attempts by preventing the execution of inline scripts by only allowing certain sources to do it.

3.  Remote Code Execution (RCE)

Remote code execution is one of the easiest cybersecurity threats to avoid if you keep your website up to date.

RCE lets attackers execute certain lines of code on the server by exploiting weaknesses in input handling, outdated plugins, and even software misconfigurations.

RCE can completely compromise your website and can give the hacker full control over your website. At that stage they can do different things, from adding crypto mining software to stealing all of your customer’s data.

Luckily, stopping RCE is easy if you do these things:

• Keep all your software updated
• Use a web application firewall so it detects and stops suspicious payloads.

4. Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) Attacks

MITM happens when a hacker stops and interrupts communication between a visitor/user and a website.This is generally done via DNS spoofing, and compromised routers.

MITM attacks can easily manipulate your data while stealing all of your credentials. While it doesn’t directly affect your website as a host, it’s still one of the most common cybersecurity threats out there.

There are some things you can do to avoid MITm attacks:

• Avoid public WI-FIs.
• Always use HTTPS.

Want to protect your website from cybersecurity threats but don’t know where to start? Let us help.

5. Phishing and Social Engineering Attacks

Phishing and social engineering attacks are the ones where hackers manipulate users until they reveal important information. These can be passwords, security credentials, credit card information, etc.

There are different types of phishing, but the most common ones are the following:

• Spear phishing: targeted attacks towards a specific user in a company, generally an executive.
• Email phishing: Scam emails trying to get people to click a malicious link.
• Clone phishing: They copy 99% of how a legitimate email looks to get you to click a link.

There 2 main ways you can avoid phishing attempts:

• Enable Two Factor Authentication (2FA).
• Learn how phishing emails look so you can avoid them.

6. Insecure API Endpoints

APIs can often expose different backend functionalities of your website and leave you wide open to hackers.

With good API knowledge, hackers can gain access to private data, extract important business information, and even manipulate APIs to gain better privileges.

The few ways you can stop this altogether is by doing these things:

• Validate and sanitize API inputs
• Use a good authenticator such as OAuth.

7. Security Misconfigurations

While it’s not the same as the other cybersecurity threats, having apps and plugins configured incorrectly can leave your website vulnerable to any hacker.

Some of the biggest offenders in these types of situations are:

• Applications with default or very weak passwords.
• Easy to access cloud storage.
• Easy to find error messages that show database queries.

Most of these misconfigurations can be solved fast but we’ll go through them regardless:

• Limit user count and give permissions only when completely necessary.
• Regularly change passwords and check for any weird setting added with an update.
• Disable any feature you’re not using or that might create issues.

8. Supply Chain Attacks

These types of cybersecurity threats target all of your third-party libraries and plugins that you use in your website. If a hacker injects some sort of malicious code into an open source package, it can be downloaded without you knowing at all.

These types of attacks can affect multiple organizations if not noticed in time and can cause severe damage to a brand by seizing control of the website in general. This means that the hacker would have free reign over your customer’s data and info.

There are some things you can do to prevent this from ever happening:

• Lock package versions so you can check and verify what files you’re downloading in each update.
• Make sure you’re verifying every third-party dependency.
• Stay in the know when it comes to the third-party apps you use in your website on a regular basis.

9. Code Injection

Similar to an SQL injection, code injection happens when an attacker adds malicious code into an application that then goes off in the server.

There are different types of code injections, with the main ones being:

• Template injection: this type is self explanatory. It inserts code into templating engines such as Twig.
• Command injection: this is a direct execution of system commands via user input.

If let in, these types of cybersecurity threats can completely delete all of your information, while also stealing all of the sensitive information saved.

A few ways to avoid code injections are by:

• Using a sandboxed execution.
• Not executing user inputs directly.
• Employing parameterized queries.

10. Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)

SSRF lets hackers send crafted requests from a web server both internal and external resources that couldn’t be normally accessed otherwise.

With this, attackers can access different areas such as:

• Internal services
• Shutting down and bypassing firewalls
• Abusing cloud environments

While not as common as other cybersecurity threats, it can do a lot of damage if let into internal services.

A few countermeasures you can have set up to avoid this are:

• Completely restrict internal network access.
• Add web application firewalls (WAF)
• Manually whitelist and validate requests

11. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)

DDoS is a common cybersecurity threat aimed to overwhelm a website or web application with an excessive amount of traffic that asks for resources to work on said requests.

These types of attacks are mostly used against big organizations trying to release a product or service to the public and can be detrimental if not solved in time.

Minutes if not hours of downtime due to a DDoS can completely destroy a product launch.

Luckily there are a few things we can do to slow down and fight against a DDoS:

• Use a web application firewall (WAF).
• Use DDoS protection services.
• Add a rate limiter and use traffic filtering.

Want to protect your website but don’t know where to start? We can help.

12. Credential Stuffing Attacks

Credential stuffing attacks are used in tandem with other cybersecurity threats after the hackers gained access to login credentials and passwords.

The biggest issue that comes with this is that customers will never trust your website or brand ever again and will prefer any alternative.

Nothing deters customers from buying from you again more than a breach in their trust.

Here are some ways you can prevent your customer’s information from being used by hackers on your website:

• Add multi factor authentication (MFA) which requires even more verification compared to 2FA.
• Make it so users need a strong password in order to save it in the first place.

13. Malware and Ransomware Attacks

This is by far the most common of the cybersecurity threats here. Malware can infect your website from a lot of different areas. Mainly from plugins, applications and suspicious downloads.

Depending on the type of malware, it can be easy or very hard to deal with.

In the worst cases you can see issues such as data theft and even ransoms to give you access to your website again.

Here are some ways you can prevent this from happening in the first place:

• Backup regularly and keep it in a different account.
• Regularly scan for malware
• Double check where you buy plugins and extensions from

Get a Fully Protected Custom Website with Blacksmith

It might seem difficult to protect yourself from all of those cybersecurity threats, especially when a lot of them can happen from a minor mistake on your end.

Don’t worry, with Blacksmith you can rest assured that your website will be cybersecurity proof while also looking amazing.

With custom website services, you can ensure your website will keep your visitors and your valuable information safe.

Still unsure if you should take the plunge? Let’s get on a call and we can explain how important cybersecurity really is.