Security is one of the crucial elements of web application development. However, businesses often do not pay as much attention to it as to the other aspects, such as coding, application management, and visual design.
However, if you want to develop your app for commercial use, it is necessary to give cybersecurity equal importance as the other factors. There are several ways to enhance web application security. In this article, we are going to discuss some of the most effective ones for your benefit.
Hire Ethical Hackers to Hack Your Application
One of the best ways to understand the weak points of your web application is to hire professional hackers to attack it. They will be able to tell you about the techniques that cybercriminals might use to hack your web application.
However, when you do that, make sure that you isolate and assign an IP address, or the hosting site might end up blocking you. These are some of the aspects of web application security that you must aim to learn about from the testing.
- SQL injection attacks
- Untrusted deserialization
- Cross-site scripting
- Breaking the authentication source code
- Forging attacks with cross-site access
- Exposure of sensitive data
Hiring hackers for application security testing will allow you to beat the real cyber criminals by tackling the vulnerable areas beforehand.
Read About Web Application Security
The internet has a lot of useful information regarding web application security. Whether you are a large firm or a small business, it is essential to keep yourself up to date with the latest developments in the field of web application security.
If you are reading this article, that means you are already on the right track. However, remember that cybercriminals also have access to all this information and more. Therefore it is your job to try to stay one step ahead of them by learning as much as you can about web application vulnerabilities.
Secure Coding for Inputs
Your team of developers should follow security practices while coding the web application. They should ensure that the input fields get validated both from the client as well as the server’s side. It is relatively easy for cybercriminals to bypass the security at the client’s end.
Therefore, the validation at the server’s end must be able to prevent the attack. They must also perform boundary checks for input fields to limit the amount of buffer overflow since it exposes the source code to security risks like remote code injection.
You must ensure that the code does not run commands directly from the inputs, or hackers will be able to use OS commands that can access the server from the input fields.
SQL injection is one of the highest risks for any web-based application. Cybercriminals can enter an SQL statement in the input fields and either dump the entire database or insert malware in it. To avoid such vulnerabilities, ensure that the developers use prepared statements for database access instead of using a query from the input fields.
Use Adequate Encryption
Encryption and firewall are the basic steps to improve the security of your web application. Therefore you must ensure that any sensitive data present in the servers are encrypted while they are stationary or in transit.
Your developers must only allow access over HTTPS and block any access through HTTP. They must also use additional techniques, such as hashing, along with encryption, and avoid any algorithms or ciphers that are known to be weak.
Maintain Backups
Always make sure that you maintain data backups in case your web application falls prey to a cyber attack. That way, you will be able to restart the application as soon as you have dealt with the security threats. Check with your hosting services beforehand if they store backups for your web applications.
Perform Regular Scans
If you want to stay updated with the security vulnerabilities of your web application, you should scan them often. Performing scans and checks once a week will help you to stay on top of security flaws. These scans must also be a part of the steps while making any changes to the web application.
Bear in mind that not all scanners are equally equipped to detect malware and other security threats. Therefore, make sure that you choose one that can find the vulnerabilities and will not give you false positives. That is why it is also necessary to learn about web application security yourself.
Hire Web Security Experts
Staying on top of web application security is not an easy task. It often gets overlooked because business owners have several things that they need to concentrate on. Therefore instead of piling things onto your plate, it is best to hire a team of web security experts who would be able to perform the necessary tasks regularly.
It will be their job to keep themselves updated about the security threats and vulnerabilities, especially when it comes to any open-source code. They will also perform the security scans and audits periodically so that you can concentrate on the other aspects of your web application. These are some of how security experts can protect your web application.
- Automated security updates to vulnerable software or plugins
- Open-source application security updates and protection
- Providing threat-related intelligence and monitoring hacker’s databases
- Blocking any suspicious or malicious incoming traffic
- Maintaining logs on a cloud-based dashboard for regular scans
- Protecting the application from brute force attacks
- Compiling security reports for the web application
- Integration of an alert system for malware or cybercrime attacks
Test Password and Logins
Make sure that you implement a system of using complex passwords to log in on your web application. Ideally, the password chosen by a user must be at least eight characters in length and have an alphanumeric combination of upper case, lower case, and special characters.
Also, encourage users to choose passwords that are not present in the dictionary. It will ensure the prevention of brute force or dictionary attacks. You can also use additional aspects to log in, such as captcha or image recognition.
There are many other ways to ensure the security of your web application in today’s world. However, you must take security measures into account during each phase of design and development. That way, you will be able to ensure that the application security adheres to the current standards and free from vulnerabilities.
