It has been increasing and developing with the digital adoption of almost everything. The more it takes over the lives, the more will be the safeguard required. However, it brings a lot of convenience with itself but also brings challenges to be faced and accomplished. Developing a web application with some security practices can fill these holes to a noticeable extent. Because web applications over the years have become more complex, with the emergence of the SaaS business, more of the data is on the cloud now and has taken over the place for physical servers like Netflix, Amazon web service, google cloud and many more. However, the cloud also needs to be secured by the developers to challenge any data breach.
WHAT IS WEB APPLICATION SECURITY?
Basically, what is a web application? It is a software program that runs on your web server and is not limited to desktops only. Web application security encompasses everything that is related to safeguarding your web application from any kind of cybersecurity attacks or data breaching. Web Security INCLUDES end users’ confidentiality and the integrity of their machine, guarding the Web site against intrusion and sabotage (Stein, 1998). This includes everything from the policies and procedures to the technologies to adapt to face the cyber-attacks. Software quality assurance is one of the fastest-growing careers. Their job is to check the software and applications that are being developed by developers and run bug tests on them (thesiswritinghelp, 2021).
During the initial days of the web, web 1.0 was the basic web page with a directory-like structure having textual information. It has nothing to do with the visitor back at that time. Because it does not have any approach to visitors, the security of web pages was not a point of concern.
But then, the rise of web 2.0 changed things dramatically. It was the evolution. These dynamic websites have all to interact with the visitors because they can easily add their information to the website and search through the website. Like even when searching for the best assignment help, you will get multiple websites where you enter your data-id passwords or even your requirements for the services. When the user can input data, then hackers could also input malicious code that could be sensitive information of users. This was the time when web application security became a concern.
STRATEGIES TO DEVELOP SECURE WEB APPLICATIONS
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USER INPUT WILL NOT DO THE TASK! REQUIRE INJECTION AND INPUT VALIDATION
Until proven otherwise, it’s a reasonable rule of thumb to treat any input as hostile. Input validation ensures that only properly formatted data travels through a web application’s process. This controls bad or conceivably fouled data from being processed, perhaps causing downstream components to fail.
The most crucial thing to remember is that you should validate inputs using both a semantic and a syntactical approach. The right syntax of information (currency, birth date, text codes) should be enforced by syntactic validation, while the correctness of their values should be enforced by semantic validation within a very precise occupational context.
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DATA ENCRYPTION
Encryption is the process of encrypting data in order to keep it safe from those who aren’t supposed to have access to it. Encryption does not prevent data from being intercepted during transmission, but it misrepresents the readable data for those who are not authorized to see it.
Encryption is the most popular method of securing sensitive data and systems, but it can also be used to protect data that is kept in systems or other devices.
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EXCEPTION MANAGEMENT – ANOTHER SECURITY MEASURE
Exception management is another development-focused security strategy. In the possibility of a failure, you would never show anything more than a generic error message. The inclusion of the actual system messages verbatim does not benefit the end-user; rather, it serves as valuable clues for potentially dangerous entities but with only three possible outcomes.
- Reject the operation
- Allow the operation
- Handle an exception
In case of error, you will be reverted to reject the operation when the application fails systematically; it will stop all the operations from unintentionally being allowed.
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APPLYING ACCESS CONTROL AND AUTHENTICATION
When developing a web application, take measures to implement effective account management techniques such as password protection enforcement, secure password recovery systems, and cross authentication. When users access more sensitive features, you can even make them re-authenticate. One of the most basic goals when creating a web application is to provide each user with as few credentials as possible so that they can acquire what they need from the system.
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ADOPT HTTPS – REDIRECT ALL HTTP CIRCULATION TO HTTPS
The thing we discussed above for encryption can be achieved by using HTTPS. Encryption at the service level is extremely helpful and can be adopted to protect your information.
SSL is a protocol that designates a secure link between a web server and a browser. This protects the privacy of data sent between the browser and the webserver. SSL is the industry standard for protecting online transactions and is used by millions of websites. It does not only simply protect your website but will also crop up many other issues.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO CONSIDER WEB APPLICATION SECURITY?
You shouldn’t have any goods worth billions and million if you do not have any proper security system. No website should be created without any cybersecurity practices. Many people come to these sites, including students who come to search “any assignment writing service to write my assignment for me” and could find so much of their information on the websites. This can be extremely risky for them.
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LOSS OF DATA
When users trust you with their information, it is your responsibility to safeguard their data.
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LOSS OF CUSTOMER TRUST
users are more concerned about safety than ever before, with data breaches, cyber-attacks, and site intrusions dominating the news every day.
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LOSS OF REVENUE
Not taking these security practices can lead to service outages and downtime, which can cause you millions of worth of losses of revenue and sales.
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PENALTIES FOR NOT FOLLOWING REGULATIONS
Following data and privacy breaches, the government is enforcing higher security standards on businesses that fail to meet them. Noncompliance issues with these regulations can arise if web application security is not taken carefully.
FINAL THOUGHTS
While it is unrealistic to avoid all attacks, you should face the challenge by developing your intelligence as a force multiplier. Make sure your leadership is fully involved and that you have enough resources to establish an active defence that can detect and respond to emerging security threats and hazards.
REFRENCES
Stein, L. D. (1998). Web security. Addison-Wesley, Massachusetts, 26, 1-4.
TWH., (2021). Most Demanding Job in the Future. Online Available at < https://thesiswritinghelp.com.pk/most-demanding-job-in-future> [Accessed on 3rd March 2022]
