Security takes a layered approach to reduce the risk to our organization. Input validation is the perfect example of one of these layers. In most cases, input validation is 1 factor in a multi-pronged approach to protecting against common vulnerabilities. Take any course on secure development and they will, or should, mention input validation as a mitigating control for so many vulnerabilities. You might notice that it always comes with a but. Use input validation, but also use output … [Read more...] about Input validation is less about specific vulnerabilities
quality assurance
Thinking about starting a bug bounty? Do this first.
Application security has become an important topic within our organizations. We have come to understand that the data that we deem sensitive and critical to our business is made available through these applications. With breaches happening all the time, it is critical to take reasonable steps to help protect that data by ensuring that our applications are implementing strong controls. Over the years, testing has been the main avenue for "implementing" security into applications. We have seen a … [Read more...] about Thinking about starting a bug bounty? Do this first.
SSL Labs and HSTS
Qualys recently posted about some grading changes coming to SSL Labs in 2017. If you are not aware of SSL Labs, it is a service to check your SSL/TLS implementation for your web applications to determine how secure they are. While there were more changes listed, you can read about them in the link above, I wanted to focus on the one regarding HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS). If you haven't heard of HSTS, or want a quick refresher, you can check out this post: HTTP Strict Transport … [Read more...] about SSL Labs and HSTS
Static Analysis: Analyzing the Options
When it comes to automated testing for applications there are two main types: Dynamic and Static. Dynamic scanning is where the scanner is analyzing the application in a running state. This method doesn't have access to the source code or the binary itself, but is able to see how things function during runtime. Static analysis is where the scanner is looking at the source code or the binary output of the application. While this type of analysis doesn't see the code as it is running, it has … [Read more...] about Static Analysis: Analyzing the Options
Amazon XSS: Thoughts and Takeaways
It was recently identified, and Amazon was quick (2 days) to fix it, that one of their sites was vulnerable to cross-site scripting. Cross-site scripting is a vulnerability that allows an attacker to control the output in the user's browser. A more detailed look into cross-site scripting can be found on the OWASP site. Take-Aways QA could have found this Understand your input validation routines Check to make sure the proper output encoding is in place in every location user supplied … [Read more...] about Amazon XSS: Thoughts and Takeaways
Welcome
Welcome to the brand new DevelopSec website. The goal of this site is to provide useful information for IT professionals to help develop better security practices. All too often, we see that there are professionals that are working very hard to create great products, but do not have the security information they need. Breaches are happening every day and many wonder why it matters. We hope to make an impact and show how we can learn from the breaches or other security incidents that occur so … [Read more...] about Welcome