As more and more applications become web-based, taking extra security steps is becoming more and more essential for protecting your users, intellectual property, and reputation. These are the steps we recommend incorporating into any web application security checklist as a baseline.
One of the first things on the security checklist for web applications should be adopting DevSecOps for your development team. Doing so encourages your team to treat security as a part of the development process rather than a step they tack on at the end before deployment.
It also allows you to incorporate security into the CI/CD pipeline for every patch or update you might implement throughout your app’s lifecycle. Overall, making DevSecOps your team’s methodology enables you to take a more proactive approach to web application security instead of waiting to respond to potential attacks.
Sanitizing and validating user input is one of the best ways to prevent injection and cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. It prevents would-be attackers from executing arbitrary code and potentially accessing sensitive data in your application.
Implement these validation measures on both the front end of the application and your server whenever possible. However, if you can only use input validation in a single place in your app, always make sure it’s the back end. This keeps hackers from using potentially harmful characters and allows users to only use input that meets set criteria, such as being in the correct format or a certain range.
While using these authorization tools seems like a basic step, it’s also one of the easiest ways to protect your application and ensure only authorized users have access. As a basic step, only allow users to have strong passwords with multiple types of characters.
Having multi-factor authentication (MFA) measures in place is another valuable way to enforce access control. This often includes using email or SMS verification so users can only sign in by providing a code. However, some industries use alternating pass keys that users can take with them anywhere. Doing so makes it harder for hackers to access your system without having access to other pieces of equipment.
Test your app early, and test it often. Web application security testing comes in many forms, and you need to conduct all of them on a rolling basis to ensure your application isn’t at risk. Some of the tests you’ll need to conduct include:
There is an entire host of tests to conduct, but conducting those four core tests will help you better ensure the safety of your application.
Using hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS) encryption and transport layer security (TLS) encryption is a standard for practically any web application—and with good reason. Users have come to expect that sites will be secured with these features, even if they don’t handle sensitive data.
By using these encryption protocols, users can better guarantee that they’re accessing your application securely. Otherwise, if there’s an issue with your security certificate—or if it just doesn’t have one—many browsers will tell users that their data may not be secure.
They also protect data in transit from being intercepted and used in man-in-the-middle attacks and other types of security breaches that can be committed with unsecured connections.
Keeping your default settings is a major no-no in web application security because these basic settings are typically much easier for attackers to break into. However, the best practices go beyond simply not allowing default credentials.
You’ll also want to replace default error messages and take steps to harden your servers, especially if they store sensitive data at rest. This is a core part of DevSecOps, so it should always be a step that you follow early in the SDLC for best results.
Logging and monitoring activity is one of the most important web application security measures you can take. This is because it makes it easier to identify potential security vulnerabilities in real time and retrace an attacker’s steps so they can’t exploit the same potential vulnerability again.
Another logging best practice is ensuring that your app’s logs are not easily accessible to outside attackers—otherwise, leaving it in an accessible location essentially gives them a playbook for planning an attack based on the vulnerabilities you’re monitoring.
You’ll also want to ensure sensitive information—such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, or passwords—is either masked in your log files or not included in them at all. Otherwise, an attacker getting access to your application directly would be no different since that sensitive information is often what they’re looking for.
Open-source components are a weak point in the armor of many web applications, as we’ve seen time and again with everything from Equifax to Sony Pictures. Considering how many applications use open-source libraries for at least some components in their application, it paints an alarming picture of the possible security risks.
Testing your open-source components regularly and automatically makes it easier to keep up with security patches in those components and keep your application safer for everyone.
In addition to using effective security testing tools for web applications, you should take steps to obfuscate your code as much as possible from prying eyes.
Your code obfuscation techniques should also go beyond simply renaming your code. These days, it’s just not enough to stop attackers from decompiling your app. On top of code renaming, you should also consider using:
Using PreEmptive’s code obfuscation tools makes it easier to implement these forms of code obfuscation automatically. Your team can use them to protect your app without having to manually implement them or worry about the risk of human error.
PreEmptive’s suite of web application security tools allows you to easily protect your app, whether it’s on a mobile device, a desktop browser, or anything in between. Start a trial of these tools and see how they can help you stay steps ahead of attackers.