Mac Logan
September 15 2023
To stand out in the global competition, wholesale and retail companies need to tap into process and customer data and think about the value they can extract from analytics.
For manufacturers, true digital transformation starts by envisioning where in the value chain can data be applied to make a difference.
All public sector services should be designed to serve citizens first. Digital solutions and applications must be easy to use, despite physical and cognitive disabilities.
Digital processes and data-led services help energy and utility sector companies develop a stable energy offering with transparent, customer-centric services.
Shared platforms offer fast entry to new markets, cost-efficiently and scalably. But lasting value add comes from cross-industry collaboration and linking products with complimentary services.
Digitally disrupted, the companies in the banking, finance and insurance sector must actively innovate new approaches to build omnichannel customer experiences that fully utilize data.
While medical device software is strictly regulated, there's room for innovations that make life easier for patients and caregivers. Stable and secure data flow is a must.
September 15 2023
Every day, data breaches threaten user privacy. Hacks can expose anything from home addresses to private health information to credit card information, and make your customers vulnerable to exploitation by bad actors online. A major leak can compromise your users’ trust in your brand, put you at risk of legal action, and could even precipitate the end of your business as you know it.
Fortunately, there are things you can do to protect yourself and your users from data leaks. Broken authentication attacks represent some of the most common tools in a hacker’s toolkit. Taking measures to prevent broken authentication and limit user authorization can reduce your risk and keep your app safe.
Although they sound similar and are often used together, authentication and authorization are two very different functions. Authentication refers to verifying someone’s identity–checking whether they actually are who they say they are. It’s why we have passwords, CAPTCHA tests, and two-factor authentication. Authorization, on the other hand, is identifying and limiting what information a verified person has access to.
Both of these functions are important in controlling data access and security on your app.
Let’s take a look at some common styles of attack that can threaten your app, and how properly managing both authentication and authorization can limit the danger.
1: Session Hijacking/Session Fixation
Attackers use stolen session IDs to impersonate an authorized user. This can happen when…
2: Credential Stuffing
Hackers use credentials (i.e. username or email address and password) leaked from other sites or programs. Since people often use the same information for multiple accounts, this technique, though time-intensive, is often effective.
3: Password Spraying
The hacker uses a brute force attack by rapidly rolling through common passwords, including names, words, and dates.
4: Phishing
Attackers obtain user login information by impersonating you or another legitimate provider. They may create an imitation email with slight, almost imperceptible changes to your name.
These are just a few baseline ideas to improve security. An experienced developer can help you understand security risks and recommended protocols for your specific app or web tool. You will also want to utilize an access management tool that will implement and manage these and other safety measures. (A rate limit is the maximum number of calls you allow in a particular time interval. Setting rate limits will manage network traffic for your APIs and for specific operations within your APIs).
There’s a rule of thumb known in the development world as the principle of least privilege access. To increase your data security, give users the least access possible while still allowing them to do what they need to do.
Each user accessing data on your app increases your security risk exponentially. Attacks can lead to unauthorized information disclosure, modification, or even destruction of data–both your own, and that of your users. However, as you limit user access to the bare bones, you reduce vulnerability. Even if credentials are stolen by a bad actor online, they’ll seldom have access to the entire database, or even to other users’ information.
Controlling user access and limiting authorization is especially important when you store sensitive data such as Healthcare PII or credit card numbers. Healthcare and fintech software should have extra protocols in place to prevent broken access control, commensurate with local and federal guidelines.
In addition to user permissions for the people using your app, consider access control measures to limit vulnerabilities posed by APIs. An Application Programming Interface (API) is a communication channel between different software solutions. Because APIs need access to certain information from your app and your users, you need to consider how to monitor this communication securely, allowing the API to do its job without exposing more data than necessary. Encryption, rate limits, and API gateways are some best practices that can maintain your API security.
We often recommend an identity and access management platform to our clients. These programs let us set up an access control model on the app and automate much of the management. Some services that access management plugins offer may include:
Top Rated Access Management Tools
Not all of the programs above provide every service listed, and not all of them will suit your unique tech stack. While we usually recommend Auth0 to our clients as it provides a robust but flexible suite of services, client needs may vary. An experienced development team can help you determine which service is right for your needs.
With an add-on like Auth0 in place, developers have less to worry about as far as writing in custom security guardrails. Developers’ main jobs are risk assessment and mitigation to avoid anything that interrupts your authorization software protocol, and to ideate security workflows for effective authorization management without creating friction for you and your users.
Beyond implementing additional authentication tools and controlling authorization and user access, one of the best things you can do to prevent broken authentication is to encourage users to take their own security seriously.
Effective authorization starts with the user, whether that user is a client or someone within your own organization. In fact, those within your team should be especially aware of security protocol, as their higher-level access is more likely to pose a risk to all users if their credentials are stolen. Educating them on the potential dangers of stolen identity helps everyone share in the responsibility of online safety.
Encourage users to safeguard their identity by:
These tips can help you reduce the risk of broken authentication attacks on your app’s data. However, cybersecurity is a fast-moving world of one-upmanship. Yesterday’s security measures won’t survive tomorrow’s attacks. Furthermore, generic recommendations won’t anticipate the unique risks of your app. The best way to keep your app and your users’ data safe is to consult with a reputable development team and learn about the best practices for your unique situation.
Call us today to see how we can help you build a better, safer app.
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