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# System prepended metadata

title: Web Application Security 102

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# Web Application Security 102
###### tags: `web app security`, `cybersecurity`, `OWASP top 10`

Welcome back to the Web Application Security series where we go through a guide on how to better secure your app / web server environments. 


*The article is heavily informed by the OWASP Web Security Top 10*

## Securing App / Web Servers in line with OWASP
*For steps 1 to 5 read [Web Application Security 101](https://hackmd.io/@codeAssassin/SJ9L8gTba)*
### 6. Enforce strong authentication, authorization, and session management mechanisms
- Use Multifactor authentication (MFA) where possible to prevent brute force attacks, credential stuffing, and stolen credential reuse attacks.
- Align password length, complexity, and rotation policies with NIST 800-63 b guidelines for memorized secrets and modern evidence-based password policies.
- Ensure registration, credential recovery, and API pathways are hardened against account enumeration attacks by using the same message for all outcomes.
- Use a server-side, secure, built-in session manager that generates a new random session id with high entropy after login. Session identifiers should not be in the URL and should be securely stored, and invalidated after logout, idle and absolute timeouts.
- Mitigates Identification and Authentication Failures.

### 7. Enforce Data Integrity verification mechanisms
- Use digital signatures to verify that software/data is from the expected source and has not been altered.
- Ensure libraries and dependencies such as npm or maven are coming from trusted repositories.
- Enforce a review process for code and configuration changes to minimize the odds of malicious configurations being introduced into code.
- Ensure the CI/CD pipeline has proper segregation, configuration, and access control to ensure the integrity of the code flowing through the build and deployment process.
- Mitigates Software and Data Integrity Failures.

### 8. Enforce logging and auditing
- Ensure logs are generated in a format that log management solutions can easily consume
- Ensure log data is encoded correctly to prevent injections or attacks on the monitoring system
- Ensure high-value transactions have an audit trail with integrity controls to prevent tampering/deletion e.g. append-only database tables.
- Mitigates secure logging and monitoring failures.

### 9. Implementing appropriate segmentation and resource limitation
- Limit memory, CPU, and maximum number of restarts for docker containers as a way to avoid Denial of Service (DoS) attacks
- Disable inter-container communication such that it is necessary to explicitly specify which containers can communicate with each other.
### 10. Security Monitoring and Incident Response
- Deploy monitoring tools to detect suspicious activities and potential security incidents.
- Ensure appropriate alerting thresholds and response escalation processes are in place.
- Establish an incident response and recovery plan such as the NIST 800-61r2 or later, and identify how the plan applies to the web app.


## Conclusion
Implementing these steps in line with your cybersecurity strategy shall make for an easier time defending your web / app servers.




