Thursday, March 28, 2024

OWASP Top 10 Proactive Security Controls For Software Developers to Build Secure Software

Proactive Controls for Software developers describing the more critical areas that software developers must focus to develop a secure application.

The OWASP Top 10 Proactive Controls 2019 contains a list of security techniques that every developer should consider for every software project development.

“OWASP Top Ten Proactive Controls similar to OWASP Top 10 but it focussed on defensive techniques and controls as opposed to risks.”

The Proactive Controls list starts by defining security requirements derived from industry standards, applicable laws, and a history of past vulnerabilities.

OWASP Top 10 Proactive Controls

List of Top 10 Proactive Controls ordered from 1 to 10 based on the importance.

C1: Define Security Requirements
C2: Leverage Security Frameworks and Libraries
C3: Secure Database Access
C4: Encode and Escape Data
C5: Validate All Inputs
C6: Implement Digital Identity
C7: Enforce Access Controls
C8: Protect Data Everywhere
C9: Implement Security Logging and Monitoring
C10: Handle All Errors and Exceptions

1. Define Security Requirements

Security requirements provide needed functionality that software needs to be satisfied. It is derived from industry standards, applicable laws, and a history of past vulnerabilities.

Instead of having a customized approach for every application, standard security requirements may allow developers to reuse the same for other applications.

2. Leverage Security Frameworks and Libraries

Third-party libraries or frameworks into your software from the trusted sources, that should be actively maintained and used by many applications. Leveraging security frameworks helps developers to accomplish security goals more efficiently and accurately.

3. Secure Database Access

This section summarizes the key areas to consider secure access to all data stores.

1. Secure queries
2. Secure configuration
3. Secure authentication
4. Secure communication

4. Encode and Escape Data

Encoding and escaping plays a vital role in defensive techniques against injection attacks. The type of encoding depends upon the location where the data is displayed or stored.

The different types of encoding include HTML Entity Encoding, HTML Attribute Encoding, JavaScript Encoding, and URL Encoding.

5. Validate All Inputs

Only the properly formatted data should be allowed entering into the software system. The application should check that data is both syntactically and semantically.

6. Implement Digital Identity

Digital Identity is the way to represent the online transaction, below are the OWASP
recommendations for secure implementation.

  • Authentication Levels
  • Session Management
  • Tokens

7. Enforce Access Controls

Access Control involves the process of granting or denying access request to the application, a user, program, or process. Below are the OWASP Guidelines.

  • Design Access Control Thoroughly Up Front
  • Force All Requests to Go Through Access Control Checks
  • Deny by Default
  • Principle of Least Privilege
  • Don’t Hardcode Roles
  • Log All Access Control Events

8. Protect Data Everywhere

It is important to securely store sensitive data such as passwords, credit card numbers, health records, personal information and business secrets as it particularly falls under EU’s General Data Protection Regulation GDPR and PCI DSS regulations.

Data classification based on sensitivity is important.

  • Encrypting Data in Transit
  • Encrypting Data at Rest
  • Secret Key Lifecycle
  • Mobile Application: Secure Local Storage
  • Application Secrets Management

9. Implement Security Logging and Monitoring

Logging security information during the runtime operation of an application. Monitoring is the live review of application and security logs using various forms of automation.

  • Security Logging Implementation
  • Logging for Intrusion Detection and Response
  • Secure Logging Design

10. Handle all Errors and Exceptions

Error handling allows the application to correspond with the different error states in various ways. Some attacks may trigger error’s that helps in attack detection.

You can read the detailed Proactive controls released by OWASP here.

You can follow us on Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook for daily Cybersecurity updates also you can take the Best Cybersecurity courses online to keep your self-updated.

Website

Latest articles

Zoom Unveils AI-Powered All-In-One AI Work Workplace

Zoom has taken a monumental leap forward by introducing Zoom Workplace, an all-encompassing AI-powered...

iPhone Users Beware! Darcula Phishing Service Attacking Via iMessage

Phishing allows hackers to exploit human vulnerabilities and trick users into revealing sensitive information...

2 Chrome Zero-Days Exploited at Pwn2Own 2024: Patch Now

Google has announced a crucial update to its Chrome browser, addressing several vulnerabilities, including...

The Moon Malware Hacked 6,000 ASUS Routers in 72hours to Use for Proxy

Black Lotus Labs discovered a multi-year campaign by TheMoon malware targeting vulnerable routers and...

Hackers Actively Exploiting Ray AI Framework Flaw to Hack Thousands of Servers

A critical vulnerability in Ray, an open-source AI framework that is widely utilized across...

Chinese Hackers Attacking Southeast Asian Nations With Malware Packages

Cybersecurity researchers at Unit 42 have uncovered a sophisticated cyberespionage campaign orchestrated by two...

CISA Warns of Hackers Exploiting Microsoft SharePoint Server Vulnerability

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has warned about a critical vulnerability in Microsoft...
Guru baran
Guru baranhttps://gbhackers.com
Gurubaran is a co-founder of Cyber Security News and GBHackers On Security. He has 10+ years of experience as a Security Consultant, Editor, and Analyst in cybersecurity, technology, and communications.

Mitigating Vulnerability Types & 0-day Threats

Mitigating Vulnerability & 0-day Threats

Alert Fatigue that helps no one as security teams need to triage 100s of vulnerabilities.

  • The problem of vulnerability fatigue today
  • Difference between CVSS-specific vulnerability vs risk-based vulnerability
  • Evaluating vulnerabilities based on the business impact/risk
  • Automation to reduce alert fatigue and enhance security posture significantly

Related Articles