Web server (HTTP server): what it is and how it is attacked
The computer that sends your website to anybody who visits it.
Also known as
- HTTP server
- website
Typing any of them into the editor finds this object.
Why it matters on a security diagram
Usually the most exposed thing an organisation runs, which is why it is scanned continuously by people who have never heard of you.
How it gets attacked, and what reduces it
How it gets attacked
- Flaws in the application it hosts rather than the server itself
- File upload features used to leave behind a way back in
What reduces it
- Patch the application it hosts, not only the server software
- Treat upload directories as untrusted and prevent anything in them from executing
Where it sits
- Group
- Servers · Machines that run something for other machines.
- Whose side, by default
- Ours · Belongs to the organisation the diagram is about.
- Catalogue identifier
- web-server
Reviewed . CC BY 4.0.
Others in servers
- Serverhost · machineA computer that runs something for other computers.
- Application serverbackend · business logic tierRuns the working parts of an application, behind the website.
- DatabaseDB · SQL server · data storeStores the organised information an application depends on.
- Mail serveremail server · Exchange · SMTPSends, receives and stores the organisation's email.
- Name serverDNS · domain name serverTranslates names like example.com into network addresses.
- File serverSMB server · network shareHolds shared documents everyone can reach over the network.
- Virtual machine hosthypervisor · ESXi · Hyper-VOne physical server pretending to be many.
- Jump hostbastion · jump box · hardened admin hostThe single controlled machine administrators go through to reach sensitive systems.
- Backup serverbackup · Veeam · backup controllerMakes and manages the spare copies of your data that let you recover after something goes wrong.
- Update serverWSUS · patch server · software distributionDistributes software updates to every machine.
- Build pipelineCI/CD · Jenkins · GitHub ActionsThe automated production line that turns written code into the software the business actually runs.
- Phone systemVoIP · PBX · telephony serverRuns the organisation's telephone calls over the network.
The servers group lists all 13 of them side by side.
Web server on your own diagram
Open the editor, press N, and type HTTP server. The object is placed and connected to whatever was selected, and Tab adds the next one already joined to it. Nothing is uploaded: the page is served with a Content Security Policy that forbids the browser from making any outbound request at all.
Open the diagram maker