Information Security in Web Development – A Developer’s Perspective

Information security in web development is a critical part of software development, aimed at protecting applications and their users from various threats. In this blog post, we’ll look at web development security from a developer’s perspective and discuss some of the most well-known security threats, along with ways to prevent them. Preventing SQL and XSS attacks, following best practices for data storage, and maintaining components integrated into websites all play their part in ensuring the security of websites.

Information security is an integral part of high-quality code and its maintenance, and it cannot be overlooked at any stage of development. Security can be approached, for example, from the perspective of the end user, the developer or the service provider. It all starts with identifying the characteristics of each group and finding effective and appropriate solutions to every security threat.

The most well-known cybersecurity threats

Injection attacks in web development

Injection attacks refer to cyberattacks in which an attacker injects their own malicious commands via an application’s user interface. These are among the oldest cybersecurity threats, which continue to cause problems for users even today: The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) lists injection attacks as the most critical vulnerability in its Top 10 Web Vulnerabilities list.

Web services where users can enter their own input to perform various actions are susceptible to injection attacks. For example, websites containing forms, online shops and other services requiring login, which utilize a database or server in the background, are all vulnerable to injection attacks. 

Flaws and errors in the validation and verification of user-supplied input create fertile ground for injection attacks and enable malicious input to be executed within the program code. This can be prevented programmatically by focusing on automatic validation and verification, which prevents malicious input from reaching the server and, subsequently, the database. 

SQL Injections and XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) in a Nutshell

The best-known types of injection attacks are SQL injection and XSS attacks.

• SQL injections: An attacker injects SQL commands via input fields, thereby gaining access to the database and its contents. This makes it possible to steal, modify or even delete data. To prevent SQL injections, parameterized queries and prepared statements should be used, as these prevent malicious commands from being executed.
• XSS attacks: XSS attackers, on the other hand, strike via the browser and inject malicious commands in place of the original source code located on the server. When a user’s browser executes the XSS attacker’s code, the attacker can, for example, steal the victim’s credentials, redirect the victim to malicious websites, and tamper with the original website by adding their own content to it. 

Input validation

Attacks can be effectively prevented by ensuring that all user input is checked and validated before it is processed. This means, amongst other things:

• Restricting the input to permitted characters.
• Filtering out malicious commands.
• Processing user input in such a way that it cannot contain executable code.

In addition to input validation, it is important to use secure coding practices, such as output-specific encoding (e.g. HTML, JavaScript and URL encoding), which ensure that inputs do not cause vulnerabilities in the application.

The reliability of authentication and data protection

Reliable authentication is critical for information security. Well-implemented authentication prevents unauthorized access to the system and protects users’ personal data. Users are accustomed to authenticating themselves for various services that offer personalized interaction. The purpose of authentication is also to restrict access to sensitive information that users are not authorized to view. 

Inadequately implemented authentication in a web service opens up the possibility for an attacker to hijack the user’s session and personal identifiers. For example, an attacker can obtain these identifiers by tricking the user into clicking on malicious links or by intercepting them directly from an unencrypted connection. Once the attacker is in possession of the user’s personal details, they can log in to the service using the victim’s credentials.

Best practices for authentication

The interception of user sessions and individual identifiers is prevented by ensuring that user-specific sessions are unique. This uniqueness is ensured by generating unique, one-off identifiers for each session. Once these identifiers expire, an attacker can no longer guess the identifiers after the session has ended.

One way to ensure the security of authentication is to utilize monitoring. When the system detects known signs of an attack, monitoring can trigger automatic alerts or block the attacker’s access. Monitoring also helps to prevent the misuse of access rights. 

• Session management: Sessions must be made ephemeral and their identifiers must expire at regular intervals. This prevents attackers from hijacking sessions and reusing them.
• Monitoring: Attacks relating to authentication can be prevented through monitoring, which detects suspicious activity and triggers automatic alerts or blocks the attacker.

Two-factor authentication

Two-factor authentication (2FA) adds an extra layer of security to user accounts. With 2FA, in addition to their username and password, users must provide a second form of authentication, such as a code received via text message or an authentication app. This prevents attackers from gaining access to accounts using just a stolen password.

Data protection for sensitive data

Data protection is an important aspect of information security that must be taken into account, particularly when designing databases. When storing data, care must be taken to ensure that the data itself does not pose any information security threats.

Web applications also handle sensitive data, which includes, for example, user account passwords. Such critical data should either be decentralized or encrypted using a sufficiently robust algorithm to minimize the damage caused by potential data breaches. For example, it is advisable to avoid using the same password repeatedly and instead to use several different passwords and password management tools. It

is important to take the storage and encryption of critical data into account right from the design stage. In practice, encryption must be implemented in such a way that it is impossible for an attacker to decrypt sensitive data. Sensitive data may also be anonymized, depending on its intended use.

Data encryption

Sensitive data, such as passwords and personal data, must always be effectively protected. This is achieved by using strong encryption algorithms and ensuring that the data is stored securely.

• Encryption: Encrypting data prevents unauthorized access. It is considerably more difficult for an attacker to crack encrypted data than unencrypted data.
• Anonymization: In some cases, sensitive data may be anonymized, meaning that it no longer contains any information that can be directly linked to an individual.

Password management

Passwords must always be stored securely. Passwords must be hashed using a salt and strong hashing algorithms, such as bcrypt or Argon2. This prevents attackers from discovering passwords following a data breach. Furthermore, users should be advised to use strong and unique passwords across different services.

Component maintenance in web development

In web development, it is common practice to make use of external components to incorporate ready-made modules into websites. Examples of such components include translation plugins for content management systems to support different language versions, and interfaces between different systems relating to user authentication.

Care must be taken when implementing external components, as incorrect configuration of a component can expose the site to vulnerabilities. Furthermore, external components are not set in stone; they require maintenance, monitoring and updates to ensure that a vulnerability in a single component does not compromise the security of the entire website. An experienced application developer therefore always has the appropriate tools at their disposal to assess the potential impact of such vulnerabilities on the website’s components.

• Updates and maintenance: External components require regular updating and maintenance. Out-of-date components may contain security vulnerabilities that have been fixed in newer versions.
• Configuration and monitoring: Care must be taken when configuring components to ensure that they do not introduce unnecessary vulnerabilities. In addition, tools must be used to monitor the status of components and any potential vulnerabilities.

Third-party libraries

The use of third-party libraries can speed up development, but caution must be exercised when using them. It is important to choose reputable libraries that are actively maintained and whose source code is open for review. It is also important to monitor any vulnerabilities identified in the libraries and to update them regularly.

Testing and auditing

Security testing, such as penetration testing and vulnerability scanning, can be used to identify and rectify vulnerabilities before they reach production. It is also advisable to have regular information security audits carried out by third parties to ensure the security of applications and systems.

Information security is a key consideration not only in web development, but also in all other software development services. Information security is a process that requires constant attention and development in order to respond to an ever-changing threat landscape. As more and more software applications and the databases that power them transfer data in real time over the internet, world-class cybersecurity expertise is required at every stage of the process. It is not enough for a developer to be proficient in just one area of information security – it is also important to understand the bigger picture.

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