ASP.NET Core MVC Web Applications: Best Practices to Ensure Security
ASP.NET Core MVC web applications are easily among the most popular of its kind across the globe. While this popularity certainly translates into terrific benefits for companies and users, it also means they are high on the list of hackers and attackers. As a result, there has been an increased focus on securing such web apps. And rightly so, after all, high-grade security is a must for all entities and offerings that exist in the digital realm for their users typically end up sharing a lot of sensitive data with them. So, when it is one of the most widely used digital tools that we are talking about, the risk, of course, is multifold. Hence, the growing need to implement measures to secure such apps against attacks from malicious elements.
Now, there are several ways to go about it, but the one that continues to be the most effective is the adoption of industry best practices. But before we get to the best workouts, let us also take a moment to reflect on the importance of ensuring sustained focus on specific aspects of web app development, such as security configuration, authentication management, audit trail, and more. Since they are vital to ensuring security, developers must never ignore or sideline these aspects of the app during the development process. And, now it is time to discuss some other best practices that will help programmers safeguard ASP.NET MVC web apps.
1. Safeguard against cross-site scripting attacks: It involves injecting a hostile script into a web page, can be prevented via a handful of robust methods, including HTML encoding, regular expression attribute, regular expression object model, URL encoding, and more.
2. Prevent cross-site forgery: Yet another way hackers can gain access to the website is through cross-site fraud. It is where they pretend to be a reliable source and then channels fake, malicious data to gain access to sensitive information and data. One of the best ways to prevent such types of attacks is AntiForgryToken.
3. Leverage SSL and HSTS: Secure Socket Layer is the one responsible for establishing the encrypted connection between the client and the server. It is advisable to make use of the HTTPS protocol to safeguard the app. Now, let us move on to the other part of this step, i.e., HTTP Strict Transport Security Protocol (HSTS), which is the part that serves to ensure the web app is secured against attacks such as cookie hijacking, downgrade protocol attacks, and more. Though it is offered as standard in ASP.NET Core, we highly advise against making use of it in the development environment.
As long as you are dealing with an offering in the digital realm, its security will continue to be the biggest concern. And rightly so, for security and safety of data is one of the biggest drivers of any app’s popularity. And if you need a little help with securing your app, we recommend engaging the services of a trusted vendor who provides .NET development services.
