Web applications are at the heart of many businesses’ IT infrastructure. Any malicious activity against them could lead to severe consequences like data theft, financial loss, and reputation damage.
You must follow security best practices to safeguard your web application against vulnerabilities. It can help ensure data integrity, confidentiality, and availability to end users.
Check the Security Checkpoints
Via the Internet, a client can access software known as a web application that is installed on a server. Many web applications are business-critical and contain sensitive customer data, making them a high priority for security programs.
In 2023, cyber-attacks have increased significantly, and cyber criminals use various tactics to steal and disrupt organizations’ operations and business processes. These attacks often include SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and automated scripts called “bots.”
A web application firewall (WAF) must be in place to prevent these attacks at every access point. Like a walled city, a WAF is a security checkpoint at the main entrance that accepts anyone who meets the security criteria and rejects suspicious or malicious characters.
Once the security checkpoint is established, it is essential to review it regularly. It includes studying the log and ensuring it is accurate, updated, and secure. It is also necessary to test the application manually and conduct various real-time transactions to ensure no open access points allow malicious users to execute unauthorized commands.
Check the Authentication
The authentication of web applications is one of the most critical security aspects. Without proper authentication, hackers can access sensitive data and cause significant damage to your business.
It is vital to check the authentication of your web application regularly to prevent vulnerabilities. It will not only help you prevent breaches but also ensure a better user experience for your users.
Broken authentication is a common vulnerability in web applications. It is caused by a lack of security measures and can easily lead to data loss and identity theft.
This vulnerability can be prevented by implementing multi-factor authentication, creating strong passwords, and setting time-outs. Disabling data caches that store sensitive information, such as login credentials and credit card details, is also essential.
Another major threat to software security is a misconfiguration. Outdated codebases, unpatched software, and unused web pages cause these. Hence, keeping these errors at bay is critical by regularly updating your application code and server configurations.
Check the Encryption
Web applications store essential data, such as customer and employee data, which is highly valuable to businesses. When this sensitive data gets hacked, it can severely impact the business’s reputation and operations.
One way to secure this data is by encrypting it. It will help protect sensitive information from hackers and other threat actors, making it harder to access.
Moreover, encryption reduces the chances of hackers stealing passwords and other sensitive information. However, you must be careful about choosing the right type of encryption.
SSL is a popular security tool that secures browser and web server connections. It activates the padlock icon and the https protocol (over port 443), which prevents unauthorized third parties from intercepting or viewing user data.
When encrypting sensitive information, you should ensure it is encrypted using the most robust encryption algorithm and a vital key. You should also provide the key is accessible only to those needing it. It is known as least privilege access.
Check the Logging
A web application’s logs can be an excellent tool for tracking down errors and other issues, but they can also be the target of attacks. As such, checking them regularly for any errors that may impact users is essential.
The grep command is one method for achieving this. This command lets you filter logs based on specific fields, such as HTTP status codes or client IP addresses.
This command is a simple and effective way to ensure that you only log the data you need. Filtering your logs can help you find problems quickly and efficiently, saving you time and money in the long run.
Additionally, if you’re looking to secure your logs from vulnerabilities in 2023, you should store them securely locally. It will make it difficult for cybercriminals to access them. It’s also a good idea to monitor your logs regularly to catch any discrepancies between local and remote logs, so you can immediately alert your security team of potential breaches.
Check the Access Control
Authentication and session management are two of the essential security checks that should be performed for every web application. The main reason for ensuring these are in place is to protect against unauthorized access, data theft, or damage to the application.
A third component of this check is access control, which formalizes who has access to specific applications and resources and under what conditions. Generally, this is managed centrally by a project leader or security administrator.
Broken access controls are a common problem when developers add new features to an application without systematically designing schemes that regulate access. It often results in a complex system that is hard to understand and prone to mistakes and vulnerabilities.
One of the most critical types of vulnerabilities related to access control is privilege escalation when a user is given a higher level of access than they should have. It may result in several issues, including information disclosure (an attacker who gains access to an e-commerce website can see what other users are selling) or unauthorized manipulation of data (an attacker who manages to modify an auction on a website can change bid prices).
