APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT SECURITY

Smiso Zwakele Ndwandwe

APDS7311

12/9/23
Proposal for Secure Inter-Departmental Bulletin
Board Login System

Executive Summary
The National Government seeks to establish an inter-departmental bulletin board to address
confidential issues that require collaboration across multiple departments. To ensure the
highest level of security, we propose a comprehensive approach to user authentication and
login. This proposal outlines the security features and strategies to achieve a secure login
process, including HTTP request and traffic security, input validation, password storage and
hashing, authentication state maintenance, and credential security. Additionally, we address
protection measures against user name harvesting, brute force attacks, session jacking, and
session fixation.

1. Secure Login Implementation

1.1. HTTP Requests and Traffic Security
To secure HTTP requests and traffic, we will implement the following measures:
1. Utilize the HTTPS protocol to encrypt data transmission between clients and the
server, ensuring data confidentiality and integrity (Guttman & Roback, 1995).
2. Employ Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) protection mechanisms to prevent
unauthorized requests and ensure data authenticity (OWASP, 2021).
3. Implement Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) policies to restrict which domains
can access the login system, preventing potential cross-site attacks (OWASP, 2021).

1.2. Input Validation

Input validation is essential to prevent injection attacks and ensure data integrity. We will
implement:
1. Server-side input validation using regular expressions (RegEx) to validate user inputs
and reject malicious or invalid data (OWASP, 2021).
2. Strict validation to disallow empty fields, ensuring that all required information is
provided during registration and login processes (OWASP, 2021).

1.3. Storing and Hashing of Passwords

To safeguard user passwords, we will employ strong encryption and hashing techniques:
1. Passwords will be hashed using industry-standard cryptographic algorithms such as
bcrypt, which incorporates salting for added security (OWASP, 2021).
2. A unique salt will be generated for each user, ensuring that identical passwords result
in different hashes (OWASP, 2021).
 3. Passwords will be securely stored in the database, preventing unauthorized access
even in the event of a data breach (OWASP, 2021).

1.4. Maintaining Authentication State

Authentication state maintenance is crucial to ensure users remain authenticated during their
sessions:
1. Utilize secure session management techniques to maintain user authentication state
across HTTP requests (OWASP, 2021).
2. Implement session timeout to automatically log users out after a period of inactivity,
reducing the risk of unauthorized access (OWASP, 2021).
3. Regularly regenerate session identifiers to prevent session fixation attacks (OWASP,
2021).

1.5. Credential Security

To enhance credential security, we will implement the following measures:
1. Password Storage:
 Store passwords in a hashed form, making it computationally infeasible for
attackers to reverse-engineer them (OWASP, 2021).
 Employ proper access control to restrict database access only to authorized
personnel (OWASP, 2021).
2. Salt:
 Generate a unique salt for each user to ensure password hashes are unique
and prevent rainbow table attacks (OWASP, 2021).

1.6. The Overall Flow of the Login Process

The overall flow of the login process will adhere to best practices in the industry, including
user registration, authentication, and session management, as illustrated below:
2. Protection Measures
2.1. Username Harvesting
To prevent username harvesting, we will implement secure error handling:
1. Avoid disclosing sensitive information in error messages.
2. Provide generic error messages that do not reveal whether a username exists in the
system (OWASP, 2021).

2.2. Brute Force Attacks

To protect against brute force attacks, we will implement rate limiting:
1. Limit the number of login attempts within a specified time frame.
2. Implement CAPTCHA challenges after a certain number of failed login attempts to
verify the user's humanity (OWASP, 2021).

2.3. Session Jacking

Session jacking prevention measures include:
1. Use secure cookies with HTTP Only and Secure flags to mitigate session hijacking
(OWASP, 2021).
2. Implement session regeneration upon successful authentication to invalidate any
existing session tokens (OWASP, 2021).

2.4. Session Fixation

To defend against session fixation, we will:
1. Generate a new session identifier upon user login, making previously acquired
session tokens invalid.
2. Ensure that session data is bound to the user's authentication credentials, preventing
unauthorized access to sessions (OWASP, 2021).
Conclusion
This proposal outlines a comprehensive security strategy for the inter-departmental bulletin
board login system. By implementing secure practices in HTTP requests, input validation,
password handling, authentication state management, and credential security, we aim to
safeguard sensitive government data. Additionally, protection measures against username
harvesting, brute force attacks, session jacking, and session fixation will further enhance the
system's security posture.
By following these security guidelines, the National Government can confidently proceed
with the development of the bulletin board, knowing that user authentication and login
processes are fortified against potential threats.
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Guttman, J. D., & Roback, E. (1995). *Internet Security Glossary.* National Institute of
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