What is a cross-site request forgery, and how can we avoid falling victim to such attacks?

Last updated: July 17, 2023 Reading time: 5 minutes
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avoid falling victim to such attacks?

Several cybercrimes involve forgery, which essentially consists of creating, modifying, or possessing false documents to be used in fraudulent schemes. It entails misrepresentation to achieve an illegal or felonious goal.

Phishing, for one, incorporates some form of forgery as it attempts to deceive people. For example, a forged website or login interface makes victims believe that they are using an official website, so they end up compromising their private information. Fake news and propaganda in social engineering campaigns may also use forged news articles and fabricated statements from famous personalities to advance an idea.

Online forgery is not just about creating or modifying documents, web pages, or entire websites to defraud others. It also comes in a more sophisticated form, as cross-site request forgery attacks demonstrate.

What is cross-site request forgery?