How would you explain a CSRF attack and its prevention to a non-technical team member?
A CSRF attack tricks a victim into submitting a malicious request. It infiltrates a user’s session and uses their identity to perform unwanted actions on their behalf. Imagine you’re logged into your bank account, and an attacker manipulates you into transferring money without your knowledge.
Preventing CSRF involves several strategies. One is using anti-CSRF tokens, unique codes attached to each session that validate requests. If the token doesn’t match, the request is rejected. Another method is SameSite Cookies which restricts cookies to first-party usage, preventing them from being sent along with cross-site requests. Lastly, implementing re-authentication or CAPTCHA for sensitive operations can also help as it requires human interaction, making it harder for attackers to automate attacks.
