What types of cyberattacks could an e-commerce platform experience from abnormal user behavior?

What types of cyberattacks could an e-commerce platform experience from abnormal user behavior?

• A. Phishing and malware attacks
• B. SQL injection and denial of service attacks
• C. Data breaches and packet sniffing
• D. Cross-site scripting and brute force attacks

Answer: (B)

The chosen answer identifies SQL injection and denial of service attacks as potential threats stemming from abnormal user behavior on an e-commerce platform.

SQL injection occurs when an attacker exploits vulnerabilities in an application's software by inserting or "injecting" malicious SQL code through input fields, such as login forms or search boxes. If a user exhibits abnormal behavior, such as repeatedly attempting to input invalid or suspicious data, this could indicate an attempt at an SQL injection attack. E-commerce platforms are particularly vulnerable since they often interact with backend databases to manage sensitive data such as user accounts and transaction records.

Denial of service (DoS) attacks aim to make a network service unavailable, which can be triggered by abnormal user behavior that generates excessive requests to the platform. If many requests come from a single user account or a series of accounts, it may indicate an attempt to overwhelm the server with traffic, impairing legitimate users' access to the site. These actions can arise from bot-driven attacks or compromised user accounts behaving erratically.

While phishing and malware attacks, data breaches and packet sniffing, and cross-site scripting and brute force attacks can all present significant risks to e-commerce platforms, they are not directly tied to abnormal user behavior in the same way SQL injection and denial of service