Your penetration tester wants you to disable your web application firewall (WAF) or white list their IP. Do you do it? Should you do it? This question gets asked all the time and it is important to understand the pros and cons to the final decision. First, let's understand why the request to disable the WAF for the tester is presented in the first place. The first reaction may be just lazy testing, but that is not the reason. One of the goals of testing an application is to test the … [Read more...] about WAF and your penetration test
Login Forms and HTTP
Does your application have a login form? Do you deliver it over HTTPS to protect the username and password while being transmitted to the server? If you answered yes to both of those questions, are you sure? Many years ago, before there was a huge push for HTTPS all the time, it was common practice for many applications to load a login form using HTTP, but then submit the form over HTTPS. This was accomplished by setting the action attribute of the form to the full HTTPS version of … [Read more...] about Login Forms and HTTP
Does SAST and DAST Really Require Security Experts To Run Them?
There is no argument that automated tools help quickly identify many of the vulnerabilities found in applications today. Tools are typically categorized into one of the following three categories: Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) - analyzes the running application. Static Application Security Testing (SAST) - analyzes the source or byte code of the application. Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST) - uses agents installed on the web server to instrument the application … [Read more...] about Does SAST and DAST Really Require Security Experts To Run Them?
How Serious is Username Enumeration
Looking through Twitter recently, I caught a very interesting stream that started with the following message: What's the deal with the enumeration exclusions on all the @bugcrowd bounties. Clients just don't want to fix?— Stephen Haywood (@averagesecguy) July 26, 2016 There were quite a few replies, and a good discussion on the topic of the seriousness of username enumeration flaws. 140 characters is difficult to share a lot of thoughts, so I thought this would actually be … [Read more...] about How Serious is Username Enumeration
Should Password Change Invalidate All Access Tokens?
Passwords are a part of our every day life. It is no wonder they are under such scrutiny, with many breaches focusing on them. We all know how to manage our passwords, or at least we should by now. We know that we should change our passwords every once in a while, especially if we believe they may have been a part of a recent breach. What about those access tokens? Access tokens are typically used by your mobile devices to access your account without the need for you to enter in your username … [Read more...] about Should Password Change Invalidate All Access Tokens?
Application Security and Responsibility
Who is responsible for application security within your organization? While this is something I don't hear asked very often, when I look around the implied answer is the security team. This isn't just limited to application security either. Look at network security. Who, in your organization, is responsible for network security? From my experience, the answer is still the security group. But is that how it should be? Is there a better way? Security has spent a lot of effort to take and … [Read more...] about Application Security and Responsibility