Web application security in Python

Your Web application written in Python works as intended, so you are done, right? But did you consider feeding in incorrect values? 16Gbs of data? A null? An apostrophe? Negative numbers, or specifically -1 or -2^31? Because that’s what the bad guys will do – and the list is far from complete.Handling security needs a healthy level of paranoia, and this is what this course provides: a strong emotional engagement by lots of hands-on labs and stories from real life, all to substantially improve code hygiene. Mistakes, consequences, and best practices are our blood, sweat and tears.The curriculum goes through the common Web application security issues following the OWASP Top Ten but goes far beyond it both in coverage and the details.All this is put in the context of Python, and extended by core programming issues, discussing security pitfalls of the programming language.So that you are prepared for the forces of the dark side.So that nothing unexpected happens.Nothing.

Outline:

Cyber security basics
The OWASP Top Ten 2021
Wrap up

What you will learn:

Getting familiar with essential cyber security concepts
Understanding how cryptography supports security
Learning how to use cryptographic APIs correctly in Python
Understanding Web application security issues
Detailed analysis of the OWASP Top Ten elements
Putting Web application security in the context of Python
Going beyond the low hanging fruits
Managing vulnerabilities in third party components

Audience:

Python developers working on Web applications

Prerequisites:

General Python and Web development

Course outline:

Cyber security basics

What is security?
Threat and risk
Cyber security threat types – the CIA triad
Consequences of insecure software

The OWASP Top Ten

The OWASP Top 10 2021
A01 – Broken Access Control
- Access control basics
- Failure to restrict URL access
- Confused deputy
  - Insecure direct object reference (IDOR)
  - Path traversal
  - Lab – Insecure Direct Object Reference
  - Path traversal best practices
  - Authorization bypass through user-controlled keys
  - Case study – Authorization bypass on Facebook
  - Lab – Horizontal authorization
- File upload
  - Unrestricted file upload
  - Good practices
  - Lab – Unrestricted file upload
- Cross-site Request Forgery (CSRF)
  - Lab – Cross-site Request Forgery
  - CSRF best practices
  - CSRF defense in depth
  - Lab – CSRF protection with tokens

A02 – Cryptographic Failures
- Information exposure
  - Exposure through extracted data and aggregation
  - Case study – Strava data exposure
- Cryptography for developers
  - Cryptography basics
  - Cryptography in Python
  - Elementary algorithms
    - Random number generation
      - Pseudo random number generators (PRNGs)
      - Cryptographically strong PRNGs
      - Using virtual random streams
      - Weak PRNGs
      - Using random numbers
      - Lab – Using random numbers in Python
      - Case study – Equifax credit account freeze
    - Hashing
      - Hashing basics
      - Hashing in Python
      - Lab – Hashing in Python
  - Confidentiality protection
    - Symmetric encryption
      - Block ciphers
      - Modes of operation
      - Modes of operation and IV – best practices
      - Symmetric encryption in Python
      - Lab – Symmetric encryption in Python
    - Asymmetric encryption
    - Combining symmetric and asymmetric algorithms

The OWASP Top Ten 2021

A03 – Injection
- Injection principles
- Injection attacks
- SQL injection
  - SQL injection basics
  - Lab – SQL injection
  - Attack techniques
  - Content-based blind SQL injection
  - Time-based blind SQL injection
- SQL injection best practices
  - Input validation
  - Parameterized queries
  - Lab – Using prepared statements
  - Additional considerations
  - Case study – Hacking Fortnite accounts
- Code injection
  - Code injection via input()
  - OS command injection
    - Lab – Command injection
    - OS command injection best practices
    - Avoiding command injection with the right APIs
    - Lab – Command injection best practices
    - Case study – Shellshock
    - Lab – Shellshock
- HTML injection – Cross-site scripting (XSS)
  - Cross-site scripting basics
  - Cross-site scripting types
    - Persistent cross-site scripting
    - Reflected cross-site scripting
    - Client-side (DOM-based) cross-site scripting
  - Lab – Stored XSS
  - Lab – Reflected XSS
  - Case study – XSS in Fortnite accounts
  - XSS protection best practices
    - Protection principles – escaping
    - XSS protection APIs in Python
    - XSS protection in Jinja2
    - Lab – XSS fix / stored
    - Lab – XSS fix / reflected
    - Additional protection layers – defense in depth

A04 – Insecure Design
- The STRIDE model of threats
- Secure design principles of Saltzer and Schroeder
  - Economy of mechanism
  - Fail-safe defaults
  - Complete mediation
  - Open design
  - Separation of privilege
  - Least privilege
  - Least common mechanism
  - Psychological acceptability
- Client-side security
  - Same Origin Policy
    - Simple request
    - Preflight request
    - Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS)
    - Lab – Same-origin policy demo
  - Frame sandboxing
    - Cross-Frame Scripting (XFS) attacks
    - Lab – Clickjacking
    - Clickjacking beyond hijacking a click
    - Clickjacking protection best practices
    - Lab – Using CSP to prevent clickjacking

The OWASP Top Ten 2021

- A05 – Security Misconfiguration
  - Configuration principles
  - Server misconfiguration
  - Python configuration best practices
    - Configuring Flask
  - Cookie security
    - Cookie attributes
  - XML entities
    - DTD and the entities
    - Entity expansion
    - Lab – Billion laughs attack
    - External Entity Attack (XXE)
      - File inclusion with external entities
      - Server-Side Request Forgery with external entities
      - Lab – External entity attack
      - Case study – XXE vulnerability in SAP Store
      - Preventing XXE
      - Lab – Prohibiting DTD
- A06 – Vulnerable and Outdated Components
  - Using vulnerable components
  - Assessing the environment
  - Hardening
  - Untrusted functionality import
  - Malicious packages in Python
  - Vulnerability management
    - Patch management
    - Vulnerability databases
    - DevOps, the build process and CI / CD
    - Dependency checking in Python
    - Lab – Detecting vulnerable components
- A07 – Identification and Authentication Failures
  - Authentication
    - Authentication basics
    - Multi-factor authentication
    - Authentication weaknesses
    - Case study – PayPal 2FA bypass
  - Session management
    - Session management essentials
    - Why do we protect session IDs – Session hijacking
    - Session fixation
    - Session ID best practices
    - Session handling in Flask
  - Password management
    - Inbound password management
      - Storing account passwords
      - Password in transit
      - Lab – Is just hashing passwords enough?
      - Dictionary attacks and brute forcing
      - Salting
      - Adaptive hash functions for password storage
      - Password policy
        
        NIST authenticator requirements for memorized secrets
      - Case study – The Ashley Madison data breach
        
        The dictionary attack
        
        The ultimate crack
        
        Exploitation and the lessons learned
      - Password database migration
        
        (Mis)handling None passwords
- A08 – Software and Data Integrity Failures
  - Integrity protection
    - Message Authentication Code (MAC)
      - MAC in Python
      - Lab – Calculating MAC in Python
    - Digital signature
  - Subresource integrity
    - Importing JavaScript
    - Lab – Importing JavaScript
    - Case study – The British Airways data brea
- A10 – Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
  - Server-side Request Forgery (SSRF)
  - Case study – SSRF and the Capital One breach
Wrap up
- Secure coding principles
  - Principles of robust programming by Matt Bishop
- And now what?
  - Software security sources and further reading
  - Python resources

Price:	21,900 NOK
Included items:	Course documentation and exercises. Lunch and refreshments for in class events only.
Hours	09.00-17.00
Durance:	3 days
Languages	English