What are the best ways to enforce web application security policies?

Being proactive is very important in cybersecurity. Application security should baked-in not bolted-on. As we usually care about security awareness for normal users, it's very important to educate developers to follow security best practices and maintain secure coding while developing web applications. From the technical perspective, conducting vulnerability assessments and penetration testing on regular basis against the developed web applications is very important and is a necessity. Additionally, from the managerial and compliance perspective, following certain security models like SDLF and SAMM could be very helpful and increase the maturity of software development when it comes to the security of developed applications.

A comprehensive threat model that identify threats and vulnerabilities should be the starting point. After this, risk proportionate controls that are congruent with the architectures of the organisation should be deployed and continously monitored for their sufficiency in mitigation and operatinal effectiveness.

à mon avis pour identifier et hiérarchiser les risques cyber, il est recommandé de suivre ces étapes : 1. évaluation des Actifs : 2. Identification des Menaces : 3. évaluation des Vulnérabilités : 4. Estimation de l'Impact : 5. Probabilité d'Occurrence : 6. Hiérarchisation : 7. Planification des Contremesures : 8. Gestion Continue : 9. Impliquez les Parties Prenantes : 10. Conformité Réglementaire : En suivant ces étapes, nous serons en mesure d'identifier, évaluer et hiérarchiser les risques cyber de manière systématique, ce qui facilitera la mise en place de mesures efficaces pour renforcer la cybersécurité de notre organisation.

Maintain and inherit security at the time of web apps development before it becomes challenge later, Include Auditing & Logging, Implement and Redirect All HTTP Traffic to HTTPS Authentication, Access control should be properly configured, Encrypt data if possible.

I'd definitely use OWASP Top 10, but consider performing an assessment on your web applications vulnerabilities through a scanner and address the ones that are exploitable and critical first. To prioritize, I always suggest going with exposed systems, that has higher likelihood to get exploited and moving to the non-exposed ones. Since we are talking about web applications, prioritize based on systems that could impact the business if goes down, for example your e-commerce page or extranet used by your clients or providers.

Ok so in my opinion the very first thing as an ISO LI , there should be a proper application security policy documented, with quarterly updation. 1. DAST VAPT- Application must be scanned on a regular basis with the help of such tools like Acunetix , Burpsuite , Zap Proxy . 2. Audit Report: With the help of scan reports security implementation should be done in a given time line as the severity code. 3. Monitoring and Surveillance: With the help of IAM and SIEM tools keep an eye on logs generated via WAF based indexing on authentication and authorisation. 4. As per ISO section there will be a standard going to be introduced soon i.e ISO/IEC 27034 which is currently in under development process , in future industry can implement it .

Essas medidas combinadas ajudar?o a proteger os aplicativos web contra uma variedade de amea?as cibernéticas e garantir a integridade e disponibilidade dos dados dos usuários.

Adopt a Security Framework and Standard is very important. Follow recognized Security frameworks and standards, such as the OWASP Top 10, to guide your Security efforts and ensure comprehensive coverage of Security controls.

You can setup policies that has a detailed level of requirements as this article mentions. The problem is that you will need to frequently update it. My suggestion is to stablish a strong development and maintenance cycle, where vulnerabilities identified in the code must be remediated prior to move into production. In parallel, production systems may be scanned frequently and as new vulnerabilities are identified, you may define obligations for the stakeholders to perform remediation activities quickly

Develop clear and comprehensive security policies tailored to the specific needs and risks of your web application. These policies should address areas such as authentication, authorization, data protection, input validation, session management, and secure coding practices. Clearly articulate acceptable use guidelines, password policies, and incident response procedures. Document the policies in a centralized location, ensuring accessibility to all relevant stakeholders, including developers, administrators, and users. Clearly communicate expectations and consequences for non-compliance. Regularly review and update policies to align with evolving security threats and technology changes.

The essential thing, considering an ideal scenario, is that security by default exists in the essence of development. Building a secure application from its code greatly reduces the risk of security breaches. After secure development, network and application protection layers can support and complement the mitigation of possible threats.

Implementing security policies involves integrating them into the development lifecycle and the operational processes of the web application. This includes incorporating secure coding practices, utilizing security testing tools, and employing secure deployment strategies. Leverage security controls such as firewalls, intrusion detection/prevention systems, and encryption to enforce policies at the network and application layers. Implement strong access controls, ensuring that users have the minimum necessary privileges. Utilize multi-factor authentication to enhance user verification. Regularly conduct security awareness training for developers and users to reinforce policy compliance.

The rule book to ensure the security of the web app is by following the guidelines of OWASP because it gives you the opportunity to proactively address the most vulnerable points such as Authentication, authorization, cipher-encryption, user input validation...etc. So, by following these standard guidelines and implementing some basic headers such as HSTS, X-FRAME-OPTION,X-CONTENT_OPTION, Set-cookie value not containing hardcoded value and always ensure the use of HTTPS instead of HTTP. These are some of the basic ways and there are even some advanced techniques such as SAST, DAST, Vulnerability assessment & pentesting to ensure the security of the webapp.

Enforcing web application Security policies is crucial for protecting sensitive data, maintaining user trust, and ensuring the overall Security of web applications. Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to monitor and block malicious traffic before it reaches your web application. A WAF can help protect against common web attacks and can be configured to enforce specific Security policies.

You may have tools to monitor and identify threats as it comes and respond quickly to prevent any possible damages to the business. I'd add a Web Application Firewall (WAF) and load-balancer to prevent application attacks and (D)DoS respectively and also send those logs to the SIEM to have additional monitoring in place. Also, you must have a routine to check vulnerabilities on the server and application level to identify possible weak entry points before those are exploited

Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) enhances the monitoring and auditing of web application security policies by simulating cyberattacks to test defenses. This approach: - provides continuous monitoring and auditing, ensuring policies are effectively enforced against evolving threats, - identifies gaps in security policies by highlighting vulnerabilities and misconfigurations, - tests how well a WAF can detect and block attacks, validating its configuration and tuning in line with the web application security policies, - evaluates incident response effectiveness, revealing potential areas for procedural enhancements, and - generates quantitative data, offering evidence of policy efficacy and areas requiring attention.

Have an incident response plan in place to quickly respond to Web Security breaches. This plan should include steps for containment, eradication, recovery, and post-mortem analysis to prevent future incidents. Prioritization and learning from previous incidents are important and must be considered as well.

Surface protection tools cannot be considered the pillar and correction for failures in the development of an application. Despite contemplating many attacks, such as those from the OWASP TOP 10, the developer has a fundamental role in processing data and fixing vulnerabilities at the code level.

é essencial promover uma cultura de seguran?a cibernética dentro da organiza??o, incentivando a conscientiza??o e a responsabilidade de todos os funcionários em rela??o à seguran?a dos aplicativos web. Isso pode ser alcan?ado por meio de programas de treinamento regulares, campanhas de conscientiza??o sobre seguran?a, e estabelecimento de políticas claras de uso aceitável e responsabilidade dos funcionários. Além disso, é importante realizar auditorias regulares de seguran?a e revis?es de conformidade para garantir que as políticas de seguran?a de aplicativos web estejam sendo seguidas e que quaisquer lacunas de seguran?a sejam identificadas e corrigidas rapidamente.

Secure Coding is also very important. Ensure that your development team follows Secure coding guidelines to prevent common Security vulnerabilities such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and cross-site request forgery (CSRF). Regular code reviews and using automated tools can help identify and fix Security issues early in the development process.

- The critical factor in Web application security policies is defining and enforcing the policies at all stages of SDLC- right from secure code through secure CI/CD pipelines. - Policies around Open Source components/dependencies should also be defined and implemented. - Policies for effective remediation plans: policies should not only include the regular scanning cycles but also regular and effective remediation plans. - Most importantly, the policies around exceptions for web apps should be reviewed and revised on regular basis, otherwise the exceptions will make the application compliant but may not assure seal proof security.