Difference between revisions of "Top 10-2017 What's Next for Developers"

Establish & Use Repeatable Security Processes and Standard Security Controls

Application Security Requirements

To produce a secure web application, you must define what secure means for that application. OWASP recommends you use the OWASP Application Security Verification Standard (ASVS), as a guide for setting the security requirements for your application(s). ASVS has been updated significantly in the past few years, with version 3.0.1 being released mid 2016. If you’re outsourcing, consider the OWASP Secure Software Contract Annex.

Understand Your SDLC

Rather than retrofitting security into your applications and APIs, it is far more cost effective to design the security in from the start. OWASP recommends the OWASP Prevention Cheat Sheets and the OWASP Developer’s Guide as good starting points for guidance on how to design security in from the beginning. The Cheat Sheets have been updated and expanded significantly since the 2013 Top 10 was released.

Standard Security Controls

Building strong and usable security controls is difficult. Using a set of standard security controls radically simplifies the development of secure applications and APIs. OWASP recommends the OWASP Enterprise Security API (ESAPI) project as a model for the security APIs needed to produce secure web applications and APIs. ESAPI provides a reference implementation in Java. Many popular frameworks come with standard security controls for authorization, validation, CSRF, etc.

Secure Development Lifecycle

To improve the process your organization follows when building applications and APIs, OWASP recommends the OWASP Software Assurance Maturity Model (SAMM). This model helps organizations formulate and implement a strategy for software security that is tailored to the specific risks facing their organization. A significant update to Open SAMM was released in 2017.

Application Security Education The OWASP Education Project provides training materials to help educate developers on web application security. For hands-on learning about vulnerabilities, try OWASP WebGoat, WebGoat.NET, OWASP NodeJS Goat, or the OWASP Broken Web Applications Project. To stay current, come to an OWASP AppSec Conference, OWASP Conference Training, or local OWASP Chapter meetings.