Secure Programming & Coding Practices

Secure Programming

• Secure programming involves developing software systems with a focus on security and resilience
• Secure programming protects data, prevents unauthorized access, and minimizes impacts from security breaches
• Insecure programming leads to vulnerabilities, data breaches, system compromise, and financial losses

Secure Coding Practices

• Secure coding practices involves following guidelines and best practices to develop software that resists vulnerabilities
• Sanitizing user input prevents injection attacks through input validation
• Output encoding properly encodes user-supplied data, which prevents cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks
• Secure error handling prevents information leakage and potential system vulnerabilities

Techniques to Prevent Common Vulnerabilities

• Properly managing memory allocations and bounds checking prevents buffer overflow vulnerabilities
• Parameterized queries and input validation prevents injection attacks, like SQL and command injections
• Output encoding and proper encoding of user inputs mitigates Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities

Secure Coding Standards

• Secure coding standards provides guidelines and best practices for writing secure code
• Secure coding standards promote consistent coding practices across development teams, preventing vulnerabilities
• Adhering to secure coding standards improves overall security posture of software applications

Widely Used Secure Coding Standards

• CERT C/C++ coding standards give guidelines for writing secure, reliable C and C++ code
• OWASP Top 10 is a list of the most critical web application security risks and how to prevent them
• Programming languages provide their own secure coding guidelines, such as Java and Microsoft secure coding

Input Validation and Output Encoding

• Input validation is crucial to prevent injection attacks, such as SQL, command, and LDAP injections
• Input validation validates and sanitizes user input to conform to expected formats and ranges
• input validation protects against malicious user input that exploits application vulnerabilities

Techniques for Input Validation and Output Encoding

• Regular expressions validate input against predefined patterns
• Whitelisting and blacklisting filters and sanitizes input
• HTML and URL encoding are used as output encoding which prevents cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks by ensuring proper encoding of user-supplied data

Secure Error Handling Techniques

• Disclosing sensitive information, like system configuration/database structure within error messages should be avoided
• Validation errors should provide minimal information to prevent information leakage
• Secure logging of error messages helps troubleshoot, while preventing sensitive details from being revealed

Secure Database Access

• Using parameterized queries or prepared statements prevents SQL injection attacks
• Stored procedures add an additional layer of security and help protect against SQL injection
• Database encryption is used to protect sensitive data at rest and prevent unauthorized SQL access

Secure Database Access Aspects

• Parameterized queries ensures user-supplied data is treated as data, which prevents SQL injection attacks
• Stored procedures encapsulate database logic and allow controlled access to data, which reduces risk of SQL injection
• Database encryption like TDE or Column level encryption protects sensitive data stored in the database

Security Testing and Code Review

• Security testing helps identify software application vulnerabilities and weaknesses
• Code review provides an opportunity to detect security flaws early on
• Security testing and code review contribute to overall security and system resilience

Techniques for Security Testing and Code Review

• Static code analysis tools scan source code for coding errors and potential vulnerabilities
• Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) tools simulate attacks to identify vulnerabilities on running applications
• actively testing of a system's security via vulnerability exploitation is done through Penetration testing in a controlled manner

Risks of Using Third-Party Components

• Third-party components and libraries may contain vulnerabilities or be poorly maintained
• Third-party components can introduce security risks if not properly evaluated and updated
• Understanding and managing associated third-party component risks is crucial for developing secure software