The OWASP Top 10 is a standard awareness document for developers and web application security. It represents a broad consensus about the most critical security risks to web applications. Globally recognized by developers as the first step towards more secure coding. Companies should adopt this document and start the process of ensuring that their web applications minimize these risks. Using the OWASP Top 10 is perhaps the most effective first step towards changing the software development culture within an organization into one that produces more secure code. It changed names when necessary to focus on the root cause over the symptom.
The OWASP API Security Top 10 is a comprehensive guide to help organizations understand the risks and threats associated with their APIs and how to secure them. The primary goal of the OWASP API Security Top 10 is to educate those involved in API development and maintenance, for example, developers, designers, architects, managers, or organizations. This awareness document was first published back in 2019. Since then, the API Security industry has flourished and become more mature. APIs play a very important role in modern application architecture.
The objective of the OWASP Top 10 for Large Language Model Applications initiative is to enhance the understanding of developers, designers, architects, managers, and organizations concerning security risks associated with the implementation and management of Large Language Models (LLMs). This endeavor offers a compilation of the ten most significant vulnerabilities frequently encountered in LLM applications, underlining their potential consequences, susceptibility to exploitation, and prevalence in practical scenarios. Notable vulnerabilities encompass prompt injections, data leakage, insufficient sandboxing, and unauthorized code execution, among others.
Threat modeling is a systematic approach to identify security requirements, assess, and pinpoint potential security threats and vulnerabilities, quantify threat and vulnerability criticality, and prioritize remediation methods, and mitigate potential threats and vulnerabilities in the system or application. It is a proactive technique used during the design phase of software development or when assessing the security of an existing system. Threat modeling is a core element of the Secure Software Development Lifecycle (SSDLC). Threat modeling engineering technique can be applied to a wide range of things, including software, applications, systems, networks, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and processes.
Static Code Analysis, also known as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), is a technique used to analyze source code without executing the application. It is an automated security testing method that helps identify potential security vulnerabilities, coding errors, and weaknesses in software applications. In SAST, specialized tools are used to examine the source code of an application, scanning it for patterns or indicators that could indicate security vulnerabilities. These tools analyze the code for common coding mistakes, security best practices, and adherence to coding standards.
Software Composition Analysis (SCA) is a security practice that focuses on identifying and managing the open-source and third-party components used within software applications. It involves analyzing the composition of software to detect and manage potential security vulnerabilities, license compliance issues, and other risks associated with these components. Software Composition Analysis is essential for organizations to understand and manage the security and compliance risks associated with using open-source and third-party components within their software applications.
Container security refers to the practice of securing the containerized environments used in modern application development and deployment. Containers, such as Docker containers, have gained popularity due to their lightweight, portable, and scalable nature, allowing for efficient application deployment across different computing environments. Container security involves implementing measures to protect containerized applications and the underlying infrastructure from potential security risks and vulnerabilities. Container security is a critical aspect of DevOps and cloud-native application development, as it helps organizations protect applications and data from security breaches.
The OWASP Application Security Verification Standard (ASVS) Project provides a basis for testing web application technical security controls and also provides developers with a list of requirements for secure development. The primary aim of the OWASP Application Security Verification Standard (ASVS) Project is to normalize the range in the coverage and level of rigor available in the market when it comes to performing Web application security verification using a commercially-workable open standard. The standard provides a basis for testing application technical security controls, as well as any technical security controls in the environment, that are relied on to protect against vulnerabilities.
OWASP Software Assurance Maturity Model (SAMM) release is the open source software security maturity model used to develop secure software for IT, application and software security technologists. SAMM is an open framework to help organizations formulate and implement a strategy for software security that is tailored to the specific risks facing the organization. Its mission is to provide an effective and measurable way for organization to analyze and improve secure development lifecycle. SAMM supports the complete software lifecycle and is technology and process agnostic. SAMM is built to be evolutive and risk-driven in nature, as there is no single recipe that works for all organizations.
Risk assessment in software development is the process of identifying, analyzing, and evaluating potential risks and uncertainties associated with a software project. It aims to proactively identify and address risks that could impact the success of the project, allowing project teams to make informed decisions and take appropriate actions to mitigate those risks. Risk assessment helps ensure that potential issues are identified early, minimizing their impact on project timelines, budgets, and quality. Risk assessment is an iterative process that should be conducted at various stages of the software development lifecycle.
Code signing is a security practice that involves digitally signing software or code to verify its authenticity and integrity. It provides a mechanism for users and systems to verify that the code they receive has not been tampered with or modified by unauthorized parties. Code signing is commonly used in software distribution and execution environments to establish trust and ensure the software's integrity. When code is signed, a digital signature is applied to the code using a cryptographic algorithm. This signature is generated using the private key of a trusted entity, typically a certificate authority (CA) or the software developer themselves.
Penetration Testing (PenTest) is a structured approach to probing and evaluating the security posture and model of a product. It involves a combination of off-the-shelf tools, custom tools, and assessment workflows, some of which are derived from open-source standards like OWASP. The primary objective is to thoroughly test the live product and identify potential attack vectors that could lead to exploits or vulnerabilities. The scope of testing can encompass the entire product functionality or specific functionalities in a new or updated release. Penetration testing applies to various types of products, ranging from hardware, firmware, and appliances to web-based software and RESTful API platforms.
Automated security testing in a CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment) pipeline, embraced by the DevSecOps approach, integrates various security testing practices into the software development process. It combines several automated security testing techniques to identify and address potential vulnerabilities and weaknesses in the application code before it is deployed to production. By incorporating automated security testing practices into the CI/CD pipeline with DevSecOps, organizations can proactively address security risks, reduce the likelihood of introducing vulnerabilities, and accelerate the delivery of secure software.