OWASP Top 10 defenses

A1 - Cross Site Scripting (XSS)

XSS flaws occur whenever an application takes user supplied data and sends it to a web browser without first validating or encoding that content. XSS allows attackers to execute script in the victim's browser which can hijack user sessions, deface web sites, possibly introduce worms, etc.

Profense detects and blocks Cross Site Scripting (XSS) attacks through validation of user input using either negative or positive security policies.

A2 - Injection Flaws

Injection flaws, particularly SQL injection, are common in web applications. Injection occurs when user-supplied data is sent to an interpreter as part of a command or query. The attacker's hostile data tricks the interpreter into executing unintended commands or changing data.

Profense detects and blocks injection attacks through validation of user input using either negative or positive security policies.

A3 - Malicious File Execution

Code vulnerable to remote file inclusion (RFI) allows attackers to include hostile code and data, resulting in devastating attacks, such as total server compromise. Malicious file execution attacks affect PHP, XML and any framework which accepts filenames or files from users.

Profense detects and blocks Malicious File Execution attacks through validation of user input using either negative or positive security policies.

A4 - Insecure Direct Object Reference

A direct object reference occurs when a developer exposes a reference to an internal implementation object, such as a file, directory, database record, or key, as a URL or form parameter. Attackers can manipulate those references to access other objects without authorization.

Profense detects and blocks Insecure Direct Object Reference attacks through validation of user input using positive security policies.

Additionally negative policies can be defined blocking direct access to directories or files (like for instance /admin/).

A5 - Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

A CSRF attack forces a logged-on victim's browser to send a pre-authenticated request to a vulnerable web application, which then forces the victim's browser to perform a hostile action to the benefit of the attacker. CSRF can be as powerful as the web application that it attacks.

Profense protects against session hijacking and CSRF attacks by injecting cryptographic validation cookies and parameters to responses from the web system.

Forms issued by an application in the web system are bound to the session through insertion of a form validation parameter containing a cryptographic token which proves that the action formulator (the application issuing the page containing a form) is in fact part of the web system protected by Profense. This provides very strong protection against CSRF attacks as the attacker, in order to forge a request, have to know the validation token for the form action for the current session.

A6 - Information Leakage and Improper Error Handling

Applications can unintentionally leak information about their configuration, internal workings, or violate privacy through a variety of application problems. Attackers use this weakness to steal sensitive data, or conduct more serious attacks.

Web server error messages are captured and replaced with configurable error messages.

Server response rewriting allows for completely configurable policies matching and rewriting confidential data like Payment Card Numbers, Social Security Numbers, etc.

A7 - Broken Authentication and Session Management

Account credentials and session tokens are often not properly protected. Attackers compromise passwords, keys, or authentication tokens to assume other users' identities.

Session cookies are bound to client IPs by issuing a validation cookie containing a cryptographic token (a checksum) which validates that the client IP is the one the session token was originally issued to. In order for an attacker to perform session attacks he also have to steal the IP address of the target or give his IP to the target in case of session fixation attacks.

A8 - Insecure Cryptographic Storage

Web applications rarely use cryptographic functions properly to protect data and credentials. Attackers use weakly protected data to conduct identity theft and other crimes, such as credit card fraud.

Profense does not directly store confidential data.

I is possible though that confidential data is logged in the deny log. Log input data masking capabilities provides for configurable data masking policies rendering the data useless for an attacker.

A9 - Insecure Communications

Applications frequently fail to encrypt network traffic when it is necessary to protect sensitive communications.

Profense can enable HTTPS access to web resources.

Additionally HTTP (cleartext) requests can be redirected use HTTPS.