Difference between revisions of "OWASP Top 10 Privacy Risks Project"

Top 10 Privacy Risks 2014 (Alpha Release)

Alpha Release Version 1.0 of the OWASP Top 10 Privacy Risks list. For background information check the Discussions and Documentation section.

Note: The values between 0 to 3 used for frequency and impact rating were replaced by a textual description: 0-1: Low, 1-1.5: Medium, 1.5-2: High, > 2: Very high

Participate

Some ways you can help:

• Discuss with us in
• Tell your colleagues and friends about the project
• Provide feedback (feel free to contact us)
• Apply the results in practice to improve web application privacy

Sign up to our mailing list to stay informed.

Discussions and Documentation

To avoid overwriting issues we will use Google Docs for our discussions.

Method: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nHM9LH2rP6ac3DvJ7lehDNb9qVP5YADOQGNEuiy5okg/edit

Privacy Risk list 2014: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ufAuGtW42gUHtJF-9_VOzNZEegZJnMyqDcyfzmsjJeQ/edit

Draft list (already closed for 2014): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WMljvy09nulPnzv5XkFc2uxn1bSR-ftKqx5VoayTzW8/edit

Impact rating: https://docs.google.com/a/owasp.org/document/d/1Gjd5XVJyGWHryUA2WyPSRQ0gQuaD5zWUCHU76_FHMKU/edit

Calculation of the complete Privacy Risks list v1.0: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1q7Xh4gclSieXNpVbdvyFwsZMENo2r3BoN2S3ww_W5-M/edit

Collection of countermeasures: https://docs.google.com/a/owasp.org/document/d/1g4Q_XDVGEAbVR_7DLNIbDN2men57BQ0pNn8CyRc2od8/edit

OWASP Top 10 Privacy Risks Survey

A survey was performed to determine the frequency of occurrence of privacy violations in web applications.

63 people participated in total. The survey was online for 3 weeks from 4 to 25 August 2014.

Here is a summary of the results or you can download the full report.

Part 1:

Q1 Do or did you work as a:

Software Developer 26.98%

Software Designer 12.70%

Legal Practitioner 4.76%

Software Project Manager 11.11%

Data Privacy Expert 33.33%

Security Expert 66.67%

Public Servant 12.70%

Other 11.11%

Q2 In total, how many years of professional experience do you have related to privacy?

Average: 6.2 years

Q3 In total, how many years of professional experience do you have related to web applications?

Average: 8.1 years

Part 2:

The following ratings are between 1 and 4.

The possible choices for answers where:

[1] Up to one out of four web applications. (0-25%)

[2] Up to ev ery second web application. (26-50%)

[3] Up to three out of four web applications. (51-75%)

[4] More than three out of four web applications. (76-100%)

[excluded] N/A

01. Collection of data not required for main purpose

Average Rating: 3.1

02. Collection of Incorrect Data

Average Rating: 2.0

03. Collection without consent

Average Rating: 3.0

04. Problems with getting Consent

Average Rating: 2.6

05. Outdated Personal Data

Average Rating: 2.6

06. Inability of users to modify stored data

Average Rating: 2.3

07. Insufficient deletion of personal data

Average Rating: 3.3

08. Unrelated use

Average Rating: 2.7

09. Data Aggregation and Profiling

Average Rating: 2.4

10. Sharing of data with third party

Average Rating: 2.8

11. Operator-sided Data Leakage

Average Rating: 2.7

12. Insecure data transfer

Average Rating: 2.3

13. Web Application Vulnerabilities

Average Rating: 2.9

14. Insufficient Data Breach Response

Average Rating: 2.6

15. Form field design issues

Average Rating: 2.2

16. Missing or Insufficient Session Expiration

Average Rating: 2.4

17. Misleading Content

Average Rating: 2.3

18. Non-transparent Policies, Terms and Conditions

Average Rating: 3.2

19. Inappropriate Policies, Terms and Conditions

Average Rating: 2.7

20. Transfer or processing through third party

Average Rating: 2.6

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is this project only about web applications and not about any kind of software?

Web applications can easily collect data from users without their permission or without adequately informing them how their data is used. Cookies, and other trackers, enable the monitoring of user's behaviour, and this information may be used for a variety of commercial purposes, including targeted advertising, profiling, and the sale of aggregated data. This is why the subject is so important, especially for web applications.

What is the difference between this project and the OWASP Top 10?

There are two main differences. First, the OWASP top 10 describes technical risks, that are not primarily affecting privacy. Second, the OWASP Top 10 doesn't address software such as cookies or trackers, or organisational issues like privacy notices, profiling, or the sharing of data with third parties.

Why should companies and other organisations be concerned about privacy risks?

Privacy risks may have serious consequences for an organisation, such as:

• perceived harm to privacy;
• a failure to meet public expectations on both the use and protection of personal information;
• retrospective imposition of regulatory conditions;
• low adoption rates or poor participation in the scheme from both the public and partner organisations;
• the costs of redesigning the system or retro-fitting solutions;
• failure of a project or completed system;
• withdrawal of support from key supporting organisations due to perceived privacy harms; and/ or
• failure to comply with the law, leading to enforcement action from the regulator or compensation claims from individuals.

(Source: http://ico.org.uk/pia_handbook_html_v2/html/1-Chap2-2.html)

Volunteers

The Top 10 Privacy Risk list is developed by a team of volunteers. The primary contributors to date have been:

• Stefan Burgmair
• R. Jason Cronk
• Edward Delaporte
• Tim Gough
• Prof. Hans-Joachim Hof
• Lukasz Olejnik
• Florian Stahl

Partners

• University of Applied Sciences Munich
• European Data Protection Supervisory's Internet Privacy Engineering Network (IPEN)
• International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP)

Sponsors

• msg systems