7 Web Application Risks You Can Reveal with Penetration Testing

To ensure sufficient security against web application risks, companies should take security into account during the development process. Unfortunately, many developers prefer to put it off until the very end.

Security experts and criminals have been fighting for years over information. While the former would like to take it away, the latter tries to safeguard it.

Every year, hackers create new and innovative threats to the security of web applications to hack sensitive data and get access to their targets' databases. Security experts then take advantage of vulnerabilities that have been exploited and enhance their systems based on their experiences every year.

The total frequency and cost of data breaches appear to be increasing exponentially. The cost of data breaches is high (approximately US$8.64 million in the US by 2020) due to the inability of developers to integrate the latest updates and modifications in their code to eliminate known security vulnerabilities. It's not surprising that the majority of internet applications contain known flaws and anomalies.

To protect themselves adequately from security risks in web-based applications Businesses should include security in the application during the development process. Unfortunately, the majority of developers prefer to put it off until the last minute.

7 Web Application Security Common Risks

Injection Attacks

A web application that is susceptible to attack via injections accepts untrusted information from an input field without proper sanitation. By entering codes into an input field, attackers can fool the server into misinterpreting it as a system command and then act in the manner that the attacker intended. One can reach out to a web application development company in the USA for advanced services.

Some common injection attacks include SQL injections, cross-site scripting, email header injections, etc. These attacks can lead to unauthorized access to databases as well as the misuse of administrator rights.

How to avoid:

Make sure that you keep any inputs that are not trusted away from commands and queries.

Make sure you use a secure Application Programming Interface (API), which does not include interpreters or parameterized interfaces.

Clean and sanitize every input according to the whitelist. This stops the use of harmful characters.

Broken authentication

Broken authentication is a broad term that refers to weaknesses wherein the tokens for authentication as well as session management are not properly implemented.

This insecure implementation allows hackers to claim an authentic user's identity, access their private information, and possibly even exploit the identity privileges they have been granted.

What can you do to prevent

The session will end after a predetermined time of inactivity.

Verify the validity of a session ID at the time that the session has ended.

Set limits on the ease of passwords.

Install multi-factor authentication (2FA/MFA).

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

It's an injection-based client-side attack on the client side. In essence, the attack involves injecting malicious code into a web application, which executes it on the browsers of the victims eventually. Any program that fails to validate non-trusted data properly is vulnerable to attacks like this.

The successful implementation leads to the loss of session IDs for users' web page defacing, as well as redirection to malicious websites (thereby opening the door for the phishing attack to take place).

What can you do to prevent

Encrypt all data provided by users.

Make use of auto-sanitization tools like OWASP's AntiSamy.

Whitelist inputs that block certain special characters.

Insecure Direct Object References (IDOR)

Most often, through manipulating the URL, a hacker can gain access to databases belonging to users who are not. For example, the URL information about a particular database item is displayed through the URL.

The security hole is created when someone can modify the URL to access important details (such as monthly wage slips) without authorization.

What can you do to prevent

Make sure you are conducting the correct authentication verification at all relevant points of the user's web journey through the app.

Make sure that the error messages are customized so that they don't reveal crucial details about the user in question.

Do not disclose references to objects in the URL. make use of POST for information transmission using the GET.

Security Confusion

In the OWASP, the top 10 security threats of 2017 This is one of the most frequent security risks for web applications. This is because administrators and developers "forget" to update certain default settings, such as default usernames, passwords, reference names, errors, and so on.

Because of the ease of discovering and taking advantage of default settings originally designed to provide an easy user experience The consequences of this vulnerability could be immense once the site is up and running, from admin rights to total access to databases.

What can you do to prevent

Regularly update and maintain the web application's components, including firewalls, operating system extensions, databases, servers, and more.

You must change the default settings.

With the help of penetration testing services, one can be regularly updated on this. Though this can be applied to any security issue that a web application might be vulnerable to,

Forwards and redirects that are invalidated

A majority of websites redirect users to other websites. If the validity of this redirection isn't determined, the website is vulnerable to a URL attack based on the URL.

An intruder can send users to fake websites or websites that contain malware. Phishers scan for vulnerabilities like this extensively because it allows them to gain the trust of users.

How to avoid:

Do not attempt to redirect you wherever possible.

Provide the destination parameters with the value of a mapping instead of an actual URL. The server-side code will translate the value into the URL.

Access Control Functions Are Not Working

The seventh of the web application security threats on this list is, in general, identical to IDOR. The primary difference between the two is that IDOR tends to grant attackers access to data within the database.

However, the absence of Functional Level Access Control gives an attacker access to capabilities and functions that shouldn't be accessible to a typical user.

Similar to IDOR, access to these features could be obtained through URL manipulation, too.

How to avoid:

Take appropriate security measures to authorize users at appropriate times of web application use.

Deny access to all specified features and functions except for a pre-approved (admin) person.

You can allow for a flexing change in the grant and the disapproval of access to privileges that feature within your program. Thus, you can allow a flexible and secure change in access to privileges as needed.

How PerfectionGeeks Can Help Secure Website Applications for Business While Providing a Smooth Experience

Despite the variety of solutions to every security issue, it's not possible to write your own security code to safeguard your website from web-based application security risks. Managing a vast portfolio of vulnerabilities can be difficult.

This is likely the reason you should depend on dedicated security firms that have long-term research experience in the security aspect, which is a key element in the writing of scalable code.

PerfectionGeeks ensures the identity of consumers by providing a secure web application with multiple levels of environment. The APIs utilize OpenID Connect (OAuth 2.0 protocol). Additionally, the applications that run on PerfectionGeeks run on Microsoft Azure and AWS.

It is also a good idea to use the platform. CIAM will also make sure that it's up-to-date with the most current regulations of the government and the regulations of the respective regions. The cloud directory safeguards sensitive consumer data while also controlling the consent of the consumer to collect and use data.

Other features PerfectionGeeks offers:

End-to-end SSL encryption of data during transit is a way to protect against unauthorized access.

Automatic security surveillance systems alert administrators to take action against any unjustified or illegal activity.

One-way encryption of passwords provides an increased level of security for users, even for database administrators.

Flexible multi-factor authentication eliminates the chance of being vulnerable to numerous attacks.

Solutions for SSO allow quick access to multiple websites using a single pair of passwords.

Conclusion

We suggest using this list of the top web application security threats and vulnerabilities to create a secure basis for your web applications. Developers can leverage these weaknesses and take lessons learned from previous exploits by other organizations to build the most secure app.