How Long to Secure Your Apps Against SQL Injection? ... it can be Quick ??

? Are Your Applications Safe ?

Secure your applications against SQL injection can now be quick. Traditionally, time for implementing the security measures for a medium-sized enterprise involves both initial and ongoing efforts, and can be up to 4 to 6 months. This including Testing the Apps for SQL injection, and refactoring code and implementing security measures like "prepared statements" (without counting time for Training developers and setting up security policies). And ongoing maintenance, including regular testing and audits and Fixing of SQLi, is a continuous effort that can take additional time.

Now Securing Apps against SQLi can be done in hours or few days. And before every deployments.

New solutions - such as SQLiFixer - can secure Applications against SQL Injection (SQLi) quickly. It's needed, as SQLi remains one of top prevalent and dangerous web application vulnerabilities. SQLi allows attackers to interfere with the queries that an application makes to its databases, leading to unauthorized access to sensitive data, data manipulation, or even complete control over the database server.

However, effective protection against SQLi requires a multifaceted approach involving best coding practices, regular testing, & continuous monitoring.

? Test SQLiFixer, click here ??

? Key Measures for Securing your Apps against SQL injection

What are the actions to secure against SQL injection ? The most essential is the use of prepared statements.

1. Prepared Statements and Parameterized Queries

This is a very key element to Secure against SQL injection. Prepared statements with parameterized queries is one of the most effective defenses against SQLi. ?They ensure that user inputs are treated as data, not executable code, thus protecting.

The challenge is that Refactoring existing code involves identifying all instances of dynamic SQL queries and replacing them with parameterized versions. But, it can be very long and request lot of resources.

?Source (OWASP Cheat Sheet Series)

?The most essential measure is the use of prepared-statements.

2. Stored Procedures

Stored procedures encapsulate SQL code on the database server, reducing the risk of SQLi by separating user inputs from the execution context. And Identified Best Practice is to ensure that stored procedures also use parameterized queries internally to maximize security.

??The integration of parameterized queries and secure stored procedures into the source code is an essential measure to protect against SQL injections. And combining this with other security practices makes it more difficult for an attacker to compromise the db via SQL injection techniques

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3. Training and Awareness. I just want to confirm here that Training on secure coding practices is Key.

4. Validation and Sanitization of Inputs

Validating and sanitizing user inputs helps prevent malicious data from entering the system. However, it's not infaillible as configuration errors or unforeseen cases may allow an attacker to bypass these defenses (source SitePoint). Also blacklists (blocklists) define rules to block certain types of input data. However, this method is vulnerable because it is difficult to predict all possible forms of attacks. And a too much strict blacklist can also block valid inputs (source Snyk).

5. Web Application Firewalls (WAF)

WAFs provide an additional layer of security by filtering out malicious SQLi attempts before they reach the application. Integrating a WAF into the web infrastructure can help detect and block suspicious activities in real-time. However WAFs can be hacked. (cf Claroty)

6. Regular Security Audits and Code Reviews

The periodic security audits and code reviews are essential to identify potential vulnerabilities. But this requires constant vigilance and can be costly in terms of human resources and time (source SitePoint).

But, is it worth Testing and Detecting SQLi Vulnerabilities without Correcting them immediately ?

It is needed to correct immediately every SQLi vulnerabilities immediately, and it is now possible to do it automatically before each deployment.

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? The Arrival of AI-Assisted Security Tools

?1. Benefits of AI-Assisted Tools

AI-powered tools can automate the detection and correction of vulnerabilities, significantly speeding up the process and reducing the likelihood of human error. Due to AI performance, these tools can analyze large codebases and identify vulnerabilities that might be missed during manual reviews.

Theses AI tools can be integrated into CI/CD pipelines to continuously monitor and fix vulnerabilities before each deployment, ensuring ongoing protection.

Now, innovative tools automate the detection and correction of SQL injection vulnerabilities

2. Example of AI-Assisted Tools

?? SQLiFixer: An AI-powered tool, patented, unique yet, automatically Test, Identify and Repair SQL injection vulnerabilities at source code level. It leverages advanced algorithms and is assisted by an AI to detect potential injection points and proactively fix them, immediately, automatically.

??Others tools are for example :

• GitHub's Dependabot: Uses AI to detect vulnerabilities in dependencies and suggests updates to fix them.
• Microsoft CodeQL: Analyzes code to find vulnerabilities and suggest fixes, integrating with GitHub for continuous security analysis.

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? Estimated Time to secure your applications against SQL injection. What are the Time Savings linked to these new Tools?

Implementing Security measures involves both one-time efforts and ongoing activities. Here’s an estimation based on a medium-sized enterprise with moderate complexity in its web applications:

• Initial Setup and planning : the estimation is 1 month, to conduct a thorough security audit, identifying SQL vulnerabilities, and developing a detailed implementation plan.
• Code Refactoring and Implementation : for a medium size company, the estimated time is 4 to 6 months, ro re-write code to use prepared statements and stored procedures, implementing input validation.
• Training and Policy Implementation : Time: 1-2 months
• Ongoing Maintenance : Time: Continuous activities such as Regular security Testing and Code reviews, automated testing in CI/CD pipelines, and periodic comprehensive security audits.

Now, It takes a few Hours or few days to Secure Applications against SQL injection. Do it before every deployments.

Now, new tools can significantly reduce the manual effort required for security testing and code reviews. The example of SQLiFixer is a game changer. SQLiFixer can automatically Test, Detect and Correct,SQLi vulnerabilities during the development process, securing and saving substantial time before each deployment.

? Get Your Personalized Test of SQLiFixer, and see Detection and Corrections of SQLi Vulnerabilities ... ??click here

How Long to protect your Applications against SQLi ? It's now a question of Hours. By implementing prepared statements and stored procedures, automatically and immediately, and by integrating continuous security testing into the CI/CD pipeline, enterprises can significantly reduce the risk of SQLi attacks. Continuous monitoring, regular training, and periodic security audits are essential to maintaining a robust security posture.

For more information :?? SQLiFixer.com

#### References

• OWASP Foundation. [OWASP](https://owasp.org)
• Malwarebytes. [Malwarebytes](https://www.malwarebytes.com)
• ServerWatch. [ServerWatch](https://www.serverwatch.com)
• GitHub. [GitHub Security](https://github.com/features/security)
• Microsoft CodeQL. [CodeQL](https://codeql.github.com)

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