Synopses & Reviews
Ajax applications should be open yet secure. Far too often security is added as an afterthought. Potential flaws need to be identified and addressed right away. This book explores Ajax and web application security with an eye for dangerous gaps and offers ways that you can plug them before they become a problem. By making security part of the process from the start, you will learn how to build secure Ajax applications and discover how to respond quickly when attacks occur.
Securing Ajax Applications succinctly explains that the same back-and-forth communications that make Ajax so responsive also gives invaders new opportunities to gather data, make creative new requests of your server, and interfere with the communications between you and your customers. This book presents basic security techniques and examines vulnerabilities with JavaScript, XML, JSON, Flash, and other technologies -- vital information that will ultimately save you time and money.
Topics include:
- An overview of the evolving web platform, including APIs, feeds, web services and asynchronous messaging
- Web security basics, including common vulnerabilities, common cures, state management and session management
- How to secure web technologies, such as Ajax, JavaScript, Java applets, Active X controls, plug-ins, Flash and Flex
- How to protect your server, including front-line defense, dealing with application servers, PHP and scripting
- Vulnerabilities among web standards such as HTTP, XML, JSON, RSS, ATOM, REST, and XDOS
- How to secure web services, build secure APIs, and make open mashups secure
Securing Ajax Applications takes on the challenges created by this new generation of web development, and demonstrates why web security isn't just for administrators and back-end programmers any more. It's also for web developers who accept the responsibility that comes with using the new wonders of the Web.
Synopsis
In addition to the responsiveness that makes AJAX so appealing, it can also create security flaws that need to be addressed at the development stage. This book examines the challenges created by the new generation of Web development, explores these structures, and looks for gaps.
About the Author
Christopher Wells has deployed security solutions for major healthcare, telecommunication, and financial industries, and is currently employed as an Information Security Consultant for a major financial institution. He is an accomplished applications security architect with over 10 years of application security experience. Christopher holds multiple security certifications including a Certified Information Security Systems Professional (CISSP), and holds a Bachelor degree from the University of Minnesota.
Table of Contents
Dedication; Preface; Audience; Assumptions This Book Makes; Contents of This Book; Conventions Used in This Book; Using Code Examples; How to Contact Us; Safari® Enabled; Acknowledgments; Chapter 1: The Evolving Web; 1.1 The Rise of the Web; Chapter 2: Web Security; 2.1 Security Basics; 2.2 Risk Analysis; 2.3 Common Web Application Vulnerabilities; Chapter 3: Securing Web Technologies; 3.1 How Web Sites Communicate; 3.2 Browser Security; 3.3 Browser Plug-ins, Extensions, and Add-ons; Chapter 4: Protecting the Server; 4.1 Network Security; 4.2 Host Security; 4.3 Web Server Hardening; 4.4 Application Server Hardening; Chapter 5: A Weak Foundation; 5.1 HTTP Vulnerabilities; 5.2 The Threats; 5.3 JSON; 5.4 XML; 5.5 RSS; 5.6 Atom; 5.7 REST; Chapter 6: Securing Web Services; 6.1 Web Services Overview; 6.2 Security and Web Services; 6.3 Web Service Security; Chapter 7: Building Secure APIs; 7.1 Building Your Own APIs; 7.2 Preconditions; 7.3 Postconditions; 7.4 Invariants; 7.5 Security Concerns; 7.6 RESTful Web Services; Chapter 8: Mashups; 8.1 Web Applications and Open Internet APIs; 8.2 Wild Web 2.0; 8.3 Mashups and Security; 8.4 Open Versus Secure; 8.5 A Security Blanket; 8.6 Case Studies; Colophon;