How to Write Secure Code Training Course

Android is an open platform for mobile devices such as handsets and tablets. It has a large variety of security features to make developing secure software easier; however, it is also missing certain security aspects that are present in other hand-held platforms. The course gives a comprehensive overview of these features, and points out the most critical shortcomings to be aware of related to the underlying Linux, the file system and the environment in general, as well as regarding using permissions and other Android software development components.

Typical security pitfalls and vulnerabilities are described both for native code and Java applications, along with recommendations and best practices to avoid and mitigate them. In many cases discussed issues are supported with real-life examples and case studies. Finally, we give a brief overview on how to use security testing tools to reveal any security relevant programming bugs.

Participants attending this course will 

• Understand basic concepts of security, IT security and secure coding
• Learn the security solutions on Android
• Learn to use various security features of the Android platform
• Get information about some recent vulnerabilities in Java on Android
• Learn about typical coding mistakes and how to avoid them
• Get understanding on native code vulnerabilities on Android
• Realize the severe consequences of unsecure buffer handling in native code
• Understand the architectural protection techniques and their weaknesses
• Get sources and further readings on secure coding practices

Audience

Professionals

Implementing a secure networked application can be difficult, even for developers who may have used various cryptographic building blocks (such as encryption and digital signatures) beforehand. In order to make the participants understand the role and usage of these cryptographic primitives, first a solid foundation on the main requirements of secure communication – secure acknowledgement, integrity, confidentiality, remote identification and anonymity – is given, while also presenting the typical problems that may damage these requirements along with real-world solutions.

As a critical aspect of network security is cryptography, the most important cryptographic algorithms in symmetric cryptography, hashing, asymmetric cryptography, and key agreement are also discussed. Instead of presenting an in-depth mathematical background, these elements are discussed from a developer's perspective, showing typical use-case examples and practical considerations related to the use of crypto, such as public key infrastructures. Security protocols in many areas of secure communication are introduced, with an in-depth discussion on the most widely-used protocol families such as IPSEC and SSL/TLS.

Typical crypto vulnerabilities are discussed both related to certain crypto algorithms and cryptographic protocols, such as BEAST, CRIME, TIME, BREACH, FREAK, Logjam, Padding oracle, Lucky Thirteen, POODLE and similar, as well as the RSA timing attack. In each case, the practical considerations and potential consequences are described for each problem, again, without going into deep mathematical details.

Finally, as XML technology is central for data exchange by networked applications, the security aspects of XML are described. This includes the usage of XML within web services and SOAP messages alongside protection measures such as XML signature and XML encryption – as well as weaknesses in those protection measures and XML-specific security issues such as XML injection, XML external entity (XXE) attacks, XML bombs, and XPath injection.

Participants attending this course will

• Understand basic concepts of security, IT security and secure coding
• Understand the requirements of secure communication
• Learn about network attacks and defenses at different OSI layers
• Have a practical understanding of cryptography
• Understand essential security protocols
• Understand some recent attacks against cryptosystems
• Get information about some recent related vulnerabilities
• Understand security concepts of Web services
• Get sources and further readings on secure coding practices

Audience

Developers, Professionals

This three day course covers the basics of securing the C/C++ code against the malicious users who may exploit many vulnerabilities in the code with memory management and input handling, the course cover the principals of writing secure code.

Even experienced Java programmers are not mastering by all means the various security services offered by Java, and are likewise not aware of the different vulnerabilities that are relevant for web applications written in Java.

The course – besides introducing security components of Standard Java Edition – deals with security issues of Java Enterprise Edition (JEE) and web services. Discussion of specific services is preceded with the foundations of cryptography and secure communication. Various exercises deal with declarative and programmatic security techniques in JEE, while both transport-layer and end-to-end security of web services is discussed. The use of all components is presented through several practical exercises, where participants can try out the discussed APIs and tools for themselves.

The course also goes through and explains the most frequent and severe programming flaws of the Java language and platform and web-related vulnerabilities. Besides the typical bugs committed by Java programmers, the introduced security vulnerabilities cover both language-specific issues and problems stemming from the runtime environment. All vulnerabilities and the relevant attacks are demonstrated through easy-to-understand exercises, followed by the recommended coding guidelines and the possible mitigation techniques.

Participants attending this course will

• Understand basic concepts of security, IT security and secure coding
• Learn Web vulnerabilities beyond OWASP Top Ten and know how to avoid them
• Understand security concepts of Web services
• Learn to use various security features of the Java development environment
• Have a practical understanding of cryptography
• Understand security solutions of Java EE
• Learn about typical coding mistakes and how to avoid them
• Get information about some recent vulnerabilities in the Java framework
• Get practical knowledge in using security testing tools
• Get sources and further readings on secure coding practices

Audience

Developers

Description

The Java language and the Runtime Environment (JRE) was designed to be free from the most problematic common security vulnerabilities experienced in other languages, like C/C++. Yet, software developers and architects should not only know how to use the various security features of the Java environment (positive security), but should also be aware of the numerous vulnerabilities that are still relevant for Java development (negative security).

The introduction of security services is preceded with a brief overview of the foundations of cryptography, providing a common baseline for understanding the purpose and the operation of the applicable components. The use of these components is presented through several practical exercises, where participants can try out the discussed APIs for themselves.

The course also goes through and explains the most frequent and severe programming flaws of the Java language and platform, covering both the typical bugs committed by Java programmers and the language- and environment-specific issues. All vulnerabilities and the relevant attacks are demonstrated through easy-to-understand exercises, followed by the recommended coding guidelines and the possible mitigation techniques.

Participants attending this course will

• Understand basic concepts of security, IT security and secure coding
• Learn Web vulnerabilities beyond OWASP Top Ten and know how to avoid them
• Learn to use various security features of the Java development environment
• Have a practical understanding of cryptography
• Learn about typical coding mistakes and how to avoid them
• Get information about some recent vulnerabilities in the Java framework
• Get sources and further readings on secure coding practices

Audience

Developers

A number of programming languages are available today to compile code to .NET and ASP.NET frameworks. The environment provides powerful means for security development, but developers should know how to apply the architecture- and coding-level programming techniques in order to implement the desired security functionality and avoid vulnerabilities or limit their exploitation.

The aim of this course is to teach developers through numerous hands-on exercises how to prevent untrusted code from performing privileged actions, protect resources through strong authentication and authorization, provide remote procedure calls, handle sessions, introduce different implementations for certain functionality, and many more.

Introduction of different vulnerabilities starts with presenting some typical programming problems committed when using .NET, while the discussion of vulnerabilities of the ASP.NET also deals with various environment settings and their effects. Finally, the topic of ASP.NET-specific vulnerabilities not only deals with some general web application security challenges, but also with special issues and attack methods like attacking the ViewState, or the string termination attacks.

Participants attending this course will

• Understand basic concepts of security, IT security and secure coding
• Learn Web vulnerabilities beyond OWASP Top Ten and know how to avoid them
• Learn to use various security features of the .NET development environment
• Get practical knowledge in using security testing tools
• Learn about typical coding mistakes and how to avoid them
• Get information about some recent vulnerabilities in .NET and ASP.NET
• Get sources and further readings on secure coding practices

Audience

Developers

The course introduces some common security concepts, gives an overview about the nature of the vulnerabilities regardless of the used programming languages and platforms, and explains how to handle the risks that apply regarding software security in the various phases of the software development lifecycle. Without going deeply into technical details, it highlights some of the most interesting and most aching vulnerabilities in various software development technologies, and presents the challenges of security testing, along with some techniques and tools that one can apply to find any existing problems in their code.

Participants attending this course will 

• Understand basic concepts of security, IT security and secure coding
• Understand Web vulnerabilities both on server and client side
• Realize the severe consequences of unsecure buffer handling
• Be informated about some recent vulnerabilities in development environments and frameworks
• Learn about typical coding mistakes and how to avoid them
• Understand security testing approaches and methodologies

Audience

Managers

The course provides essential skills for PHP developers necessary to make their applications resistant to contemporary attacks through the Internet. Web vulnerabilities are discussed through PHP-based examples going beyond the OWASP top ten, tackling various injection attacks, script injections, attacks against session handling of PHP, insecure direct object references, issues with file upload, and many others. PHP-related vulnerabilities are introduced grouped into the standard vulnerability types of missing or improper input validation, incorrect error and exception handling, improper use of security features and time- and state-related problems. For this latter we discuss attacks like the open_basedir circumvention, denial-of-service through magic float or the hash table collision attack. In all cases participants will get familiar with the most important techniques and functions to be used to mitigate the enlisted risks.

A special focus is given to client-side security tackling security issues of JavaScript, Ajax and HTML5. A number of security-related extensions to PHP are introduced like hash, mcrypt and OpenSSL for cryptography, or Ctype, ext/filter and HTML Purifier for input validation. The best hardening practices are given in connection with PHP configuration (setting php.ini), Apache and the server in general. Finally, an overview is given to various security testing tools and techniques which developers and testers can use, including security scanners, penetration testing and exploit packs, sniffers, proxy servers, fuzzing tools and static source code analyzers.

Both the introduction of vulnerabilities and the configuration practices are supported by a number of hands-on exercises demonstrating the consequences of successful attacks, showing how to apply mitigation techniques and introducing the use of various extensions and tools.

Participants attending this course will

• Understand basic concepts of security, IT security and secure coding
• Learn Web vulnerabilities beyond OWASP Top Ten and know how to avoid them
• Learn client-side vulnerabilities and secure coding practices
• Have a practical understanding of cryptography
• Learn to use various security features of PHP
• Learn about typical coding mistakes and how to avoid them
• Be informed about recent vulnerabilities of the PHP framework
• Get practical knowledge in using security testing tools
• Get sources and further readings on secure coding practices

Audience

Developers