How to Secure a Web Application?

Web Application Security is an important aspect that cannot be overpassed in the Web App Development process. According to the numbers by IBM, the average cost of a security breach is $3.86 million, which was caused due to vulnerabilities in the third-party software.

There has been constant growth and development in this technology-driven era, and mobile applications and web apps have become more complex. So it is essential to take care of security and privacy to avoid data breaches and manipulation. 

Before talking more about data security, safeguarding data, data breaches, and more you should be clear about what Web App security is and the other factors that relate to it.

What is Web App Security

Web Applications are generally web-based software that runs on browsers over the internet. These web applications accept connections from clients over insecure networks, which makes them vulnerable to security threats and a target for hackers and cyber attacks.

Web App Security can be defined as the process and steps that a developer takes to protect and keep the data and other confidential information safe from unauthorized access and from being attacked by cybercriminals.

Securing a web app is very important in all phases of development, starting from designing the web app to the deployment/launch of the app.

Before discussing the strategies, tips, and tools for web app security, you should be aware of the common terms of IT security.

• Data Breach – Where the data or information is stolen from a system via unauthorized access.
• Malware – Malware = Malicious + Software is a file or code with the purpose to infect or steal a file virtually on the internet.
• Firewall – It is a shield to protect from cyberattacks to monitor and control all the incoming and outgoing traffic, based on certain security limitations.
• Encryption – The process of encoding information from plaintext to ciphertext (in cryptography) so that people who aren’t authorized to see it can access it in any way. 
• 2-Factor Authentication – The process of integration of additional security to an account, where you might need a password, a code/OTP from your phone, or a physical security key to access it.

Strategies to develop secure Web applications

The web application is an essential part of our daily lives now. There is a consistent growth in the demand and development of these types of applications, and one important aspect to take care of is the security of these applications.

The primary benefit of developing a web app is that it interacts with your clients, displays products and services that you offer in the marketplace, and generates more business. So all information/data must be kept safe.

Here are some of the best practices according to us to help you secure a web application.

1. Consult with security experts during the development process, to secure the application at all stages.
2. Make use of RASP (Runtime Application Self-protection), it will help you monitor and block attacks by analyzing the information.
3. Encrypt your data to protect it from cyberattacks and unauthorized access. 
4. Application of authentication, role management, and access control reduces the chance of intruders, which might negatively impact the application. Enforce strong passwords, monitor user accounts and activities, and if you notice any suspicious activity lock out those users. Also, use SSL and encryption to ensure that the passwords and credentials are protected.
5. Do not forget to focus on the hosting service, as it is equally important to keep your web applications secure.
6. Avoid security misconfigurations like not protecting files from being served, having unnecessary ports open on the web server, using outdated security level protocols, allowing digital certificates to expire, and many more. Set strong administrator passwords, update the latest stable versions of all libraries, plugins, and frameworks, and ensure all the digital certificates are up to date.
7. Manage the containers carefully. There are many applications that run on containers using docker. You can secure it by using a trusted base image, scanning images for vulnerabilities, and avoiding exposing containers to the internet unless it is necessary.
8. Implement HTTPS and redirect all the traffic from HTTP to HTTPS, it ensures that the information passed between the server and web browser remains private.
9. Use ultra rigorous quality assurance and testing to identify the loopholes and fix them. 
10. The web applications should be free of any vulnerabilities (like SQL Injection, Cross-Site Scripting, Cross-Site Request Forgery) and breaches that might fail the HIPAA and PCI guidelines.

Tools to Secure Web Apps

Everything on the internet is prone to cyberattacks, and to protect them there are certain strategies and tools to help you secure it. Since the demand for web app development is on a hike, it is important to secure them and help businesses emit the possible risks and vulnerabilities.

• Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP) – It is an Open-source web application security scanning tool, developed by the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP). It can tamper with outbound requests and inbound responses.
• W3af – W3af short for Web Application Attack and Audit Framework, is a popular open-source web application security scanner that provides a vulnerability scanner and exploitation tool to test over 200 types of web application security issues during penetration testing engagements.
• Kiuwan – It is a SAAS application used for software analysis, check the code quality, software composition and for security management to help identify the vulnerabilities in the web application code to achieve faster feedback in development. This tool supports major programming languages and integrates with DevOps tools and automate the security process.
• Grabber – It is a black box web app security testing tool, for small web apps. It is simple, portable, and really adaptable. It checks for vulnerabilities like SQL Injection, Blind SQL injection, XSS vulnerability, and File include injection.
• SonarQube– Developed by SonarSource, it is an open-source security testing tool, that inspects the code quality to detect bugs in the code. Additionally, it is capable of analyzing 20+ programming languages, along with being the easiest tool to set up to ensure high-quality codes.

Conclusion

In this data and technology-driven time, where cyberattacks and data breaches are a common problem, every year over 2,000 confirmed data breaches take place globally, with each breach costing over $3.9 million. Also according to reports and stats, half of the world’s population, has had their private information/data stolen by cyber criminals which suggest that data should be protected since it costs lumpsum as it is also an asset for companies and institutions.