Identifying Security Vulnerabilities (Coursera)

We'll also cover application authentication and session management where authentication is a major component of a secure web application and session management is the other side of the same coin, since the authenticated state of user requests need to be properly handled and run as one session. We'll learn about sensitive data exposure issues and how you can help protect your customer's data. We'll cover how to effectively store password-related information, and not to store the actual plaintext passwords. We'll participate in coding assignment that will help you to better understand the mechanisms for effectively storing password-related information.

Along the way, we’ll discuss ways of watching out for and mitigating these issues and be able have some fun and exploit two different vulnerabilities in a web application that was designed to be vulnerable, called WebGoat.

Course 2 of 4 in the Secure Coding Practices Specialization.

Syllabus

WEEK 1

Foundational Topics in Secure Programming

In this module, you will gain exposure to the ideas of threat modeling and applied cryptography. By the end of the module, you will be able to start to create threat models, and think critically about the threat models created by other people. You will be able to apply the STRIDE Method to your threat model and distinguish the trust boundaries in a given system. You will also gain a basic understanding of applied cryptography, such as encryption and secure hashing.

WEEK 2

Injection Problems

By the end of this module, you will have a fundamental understanding of injection problems in web applications. You'll be able to discuss and describe the three most common types of injection problems: SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and command injection. In order to drive home these concepts, you will be able to work on exploiting a SQL injection vulnerability in the WebGoat application. You'll be able to formulate plans to mitigate injection problems in your applications.

WEEK 3

Problems Arising From Broken Authentication

By the end of this module, you will be able to evaluate a system to determine if it follows the generally prescribed secure methods for authentication and session management in web applications. You'll be able to distinguish the relationship between authentication, session management, and access control. You will also be able to exploit WebGoat's authentication and session management vulnerability. As well as be able to evaluate a system to determine if it performs sufficient security logging such that non-repudiation is enforced. This will help drive the concepts that you will learn in this module.

WEEK 4

Sensitive Data Exposure Problems

By the end of this module, you will understand how to effectively store password-related information, and NOT to store the actual plaintext passwords. You will also have a hands on coding assignment that will help you to better understand the mechanisms for effectively storing password-related information. Ready?