Web Security Fundamentals: Protecting Your Site from Common Attacks

Security isn't something you add after building a site—it needs to be baked into your development process. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) remains one of the most common vulnerabilities. Prevent it by always escaping user-generated content—never insert raw user input into your HTML. Use textContent instead of innerHTML, and let frameworks like React handle escaping automatically. SQL injection is another classic attack. Use parameterized queries or an ORM instead of string concatenation in your SQL. Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks can trick authenticated users into performing unintended actions. Protect against them by using anti-CSRF tokens, same-site cookies, and the modern SameSite cookie attribute. Always use HTTPS everywhere—it's free with Let's Encrypt. Set secure HTTP headers like Content-Security-Policy to control which resources your site can load, and use X-Frame-Options to prevent clickjacking. Keep dependencies updated—automated tools like Dependabot can alert you to vulnerabilities. Security isn't about being perfect; it's about raising the bar high enough that attackers move on to easier targets. Start with the OWASP Top 10 as your checklist and review it regularly.