How can you detect interface security risks before it's too late?

1 Input validation

One of the most basic and important interface security measures is to validate the input that your application receives from users or other sources. Input validation means checking that the input is in the expected format, type, range, and length, and that it doesn't contain any malicious code or commands. If you don't validate your input, you could expose your application to injection attacks, cross-site scripting attacks, buffer overflows, or other exploits that could compromise your data or functionality. To validate your input, you should use standard libraries, frameworks, or tools that provide built-in validation functions, or write your own custom validation rules. You should also sanitize your input by removing or escaping any unwanted characters or symbols.

2 Output encoding

Another interface security technique is to encode the output that your application sends to users or other destinations. Output encoding means converting the output to a safe format that prevents any malicious code or commands from being executed or interpreted by the browser, the server, or the client. For example, if your application generates HTML output, you should encode any user input that is included in the output to prevent cross-site scripting attacks. To encode your output, you should use standard libraries, frameworks, or tools that provide built-in encoding functions, or write your own custom encoding rules. You should also avoid using dynamic output generation methods that could introduce vulnerabilities, such as eval, document.write, or innerHTML.

4 Error handling

A fourth interface security practice is to handle errors gracefully and securely. Error handling means managing the unexpected situations that could occur during the execution of your application, such as invalid input, network failures, or system errors. If you don't handle errors properly, you could reveal sensitive information, expose vulnerabilities, or disrupt your application's performance. To handle errors, you should use standard libraries, frameworks, or tools that provide error handling functions, or write your own custom error handling logic. You should also avoid displaying detailed error messages to users or logging them in insecure locations, and instead use generic messages and secure logging methods.

5 Testing and monitoring

A fifth interface security step is to test and monitor your application regularly and thoroughly. Testing means verifying that your application works as expected and meets the security requirements, while monitoring means observing and analyzing the behavior and performance of your application in real time or over time. If you don't test and monitor your application, you could miss potential interface security risks, or fail to detect and respond to security incidents. To test and monitor your application, you should use standard tools, frameworks, or methods that provide testing and monitoring functions, or write your own custom testing and monitoring scripts. You should also perform different types of testing, such as unit testing, integration testing, or penetration testing, and use different metrics and indicators, such as response time, error rate, or traffic volume.

6 Security awareness

A sixth and final interface security factor is to cultivate security awareness among your developers, users, and stakeholders. Security awareness means having the knowledge, skills, and attitude to recognize and prevent interface security risks, or to report and resolve them if they occur. If you don't foster security awareness, you could create or overlook interface security flaws, or fail to follow the security best practices and policies. To promote security awareness, you should provide security training, education, and guidance to your developers, users, and stakeholders, and encourage them to adopt a security mindset and culture. You should also communicate and collaborate with them on security issues, and solicit and implement their feedback and suggestions.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?