Developing a website is not really easy as it seems. There are a lot of software that can help you craft your website in no time and experience, but there is that one security loophole every attacker is looking for. If your website deals with a lot of sensitive information or confidential details, then probably you should keep a security checklist to ensure that all the modes generating loophole are covered. Out of all, given below are a few of the steps to ensure that you are developing a secured website. They’re not just limited to the website, but also can be considered while developing the software or any code.
Leaving no constraints ignored
Whenever you are developing a code, make sure to put constraints to every executing function. Allowing your code to function in a limited environment makes sure that there is no way through which one wrong entry can make the code malfunctioning.
Think about what-if?
Always consider all the worst-case scenario while developing your website. What if one functionality disrupts the other? Does any code leaks out the database? If yes, then how to patch this? Analyzing such what-if scenario’s on an iterative basis will help you to patch the risk and mitigate it before the version is even released.
Include whitelisting
Whitelisting is allowing only specifics of something. This is a hard-reject policy for anyone trying to access some privileges beyond their allowances. Thus, keeping such strongly reject policies for certain URL’s, privileges, and access can help from data leaks, malware downloads, and other actions that can potentially harm a website.
Create multiple and varied test cases
Keep a check on every test case and make sure that every test case is implemented and is passed. One of the vital concern is to create cases that put every condition into consideration and it is implemented through it. Thus, every aspect of every section of the code, including the graphics and functioning must be thought of and should be included in the test cases.
Fixate redirects to specific URL’s
If the redirections to some particular website can be forged to our malicious website by intercepting the requests, then it is a potential harm to the naive users. Also, whenever possible, the developer must fixate redirects to 404 status code if the redirection URL isn’t among the list of URL’s that we’ve defined priorly.
Include HTML entities
HTML entities replace the special symbols that an attacker can maliciously try to inject in a data box. This can then be interpreted as a piece of code and can disrupt the functioning of the website. This includes alert, redirects and other information gathering methods from a webpage. These HTML entities, thus replace the symbols with a set of other special characters that have no such peculiar reference with the code.
Strict checks on request forgery
While sending the requests, it can easily be possible to manipulate the request parameters through some cybersecurity tools. We need to make sure that these requests, even if captured, can’t be modified or edited on essential actions such as change password. These requests should be denied any modification on both, client and server sides.
Limit the request rates
Due to the lack of rate limiting at a particular instance, a person might be able to request multiple queries at the same time. This can lead to the generation of multiple validation links and congestion of traffic on the server to process other requests. One particular example is multiple link generation of ‘Forgot Password’ section and the account being locked out for a certain amount of time. If the website consists of important financial transactions, then it is a loss.
These are some of the checklists that need to be definitely considered and not to missed out before launching the website. The negligence in security can cost a lot to an organization and thus using some methods to prevent the breaches can come handy at times.
Author Bio:
This article has been written by Rishika Desai, B.Tech Computer Engineering graduate with 9.57 CGPA from Vishwakarma Institute of Information Technology (VIIT), Pune. Currently works as Threat Intelligence Researcher in CloudSEK. She is a good dancer, poet and a writer. Animal love engulfs her heart and content writing comprises her present. You can follow Rishika on Twitter at @ich_rish99, and connect with her on LinkedIn.
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