The modern developer is caught in a difficult spot. Businesses are demanding faster application delivery from developers. Software plays an increasing role in modern businesses, so developers often face impossible deadlines. Web application development, on the other hand is becoming more complicated. As an example, developers today must create web applications that can adapt to all devices, port to all platforms, integrate with other services and resist increasingly sophisticated attacks. Whew!
The problem is that developers are struggling to keep up with changing requirements and increasing demands for faster development. Some aspects of development will fall through the cracks. It turns out that this is exactly what is happening…with security. Many developers don’t follow basic security principles, despite the increasing importance of security. It’s terrible! This study, which was done last year, found that 99% of applications had one or more serious vulnerabilities.
Let’s look at this issue today. Although we cannot fix every security error made by developers, I can highlight the most important principles. What are the most important security principles that every web developer should follow? How can you prevent your web applications being easily attacked? Although the list could go on, I have listed 7 of the most crucial security tips that every developer should follow.
1. Learn what data you must protect
Developers should only store data that is absolutely necessary to protect their business. It all starts with two questions. First, what data do you company need to protect and store? The second question is: What data do you need to store and protect? How much can it potentially harm your company or customers?
2. Encrypt sensitive user data
What happens if sensitive data must be stored in your database? You should never store any data unencrypted if you absolutely must. This advice is important and will make your company appear on the top news pages. But not for the right reasons. Are you willing to lose sensitive customer data?
3. Maintain software up-to-date (or update it).
Hackers will seek the shortest route to your database in order to gain access. This often means finding insecure or outdated software and then working from there. Two important guidelines are required to reduce this risk. As explained below, you must patch and update your software regularly. Unwanted software must be disabled. Companies often have unneeded software installed on their systems. This is a great way for hackers to get into your system, as we’ll explain below.
4. Limit the privileges of users
Sometimes the greatest threat to your data may not be an external attacker. It is an uninformed end user who has too many system privileges. It is better for everyone involved to limit these privileges. This helps protect your applications and eliminates the possibility of security errors by end users.
5. Validate both client-side as well as server-side
Two types of validation are required when accepting input from a website into your database. JavaScript provides client-side validation that protects against user errors such as incorrectly entering data, or forgetting to fill out a field. Server-side validation protects you from malicious input such as users trying to insert their code into your database. Developers make the error of using client-side authentication as a security measure.
6. User input should be cleaned
It is obvious that user input from web applications should not be sent directly to the database. To maintain data integrity and prevent common attacks such as SQL injection, it must be validated.
7. All connections that use cookie data should be secured
Session hijacking is a common practice that occurs when only the login system of an application is protected, and not the entire application. Hackers can easily steal the session ID of a user and gain full access. This mistake can have devastating consequences, as you might imagine.